Who is the scamming, death-faking, hedge fund manager, and what did he do?
On June 9, Samuel Israel was supposed to report to a federal prison to begin a 20 year sentence on charges of conspiracy and fraud. On that same day, authorities found Mr. Israel’s car abandoned on a bridge high above the Hudson River. The front of the car bore an interesting message, and I quote, “Suicide is painless.” His remains were never recovered, because he never jumped. Instead he hopped into an RV and disappeared, until today, when the law caught up with him. This is a huge reversal of fortunes for Mr. Israel, who once rented a $32,000-a-month mansion from Donald Trump. Mr. Israel started Bayou Management in the mid 1990s. The hedge fund struggled from its inception, but Israel was able to mislead investors by covering up losses with phony audits, changing the fund’s inception date and processing the fund’s trades through an affiliate which he owned. Mr. Israel also inflated the fund’s returns in order to generate massive fee income. Prosecutors estimate that over a six year p
