Convicted Hedge Funder's Mysterious Disappearance

2008_06_samisr.jpgTwo months ago, Sam Israel III was sentenced to 20 years at a Massachusetts prison for swindling $450 million from investors in his hedge fund, the Bayou Hedge Fund Group. He was supposed to report to prison yesterday, but he never showed up. Instead his 2006 GMC Envoy was found on the Bear Mountain Bridge, keys still in the ignition and the words "Suicide is painless" (the theme song to M*A*S*H) written on the dusty hood.

While suicide has not been ruled out, ABC News' Blotter one hypothesis is that he staged the disappearance, possibly buying a black market passport on the Internet. WNBC reports that there's surveillance camera footage showing a second car pulling up next to the Envoy, though it is "unclear from the tape whether Israel gets into that vehicle."

Israel's body has not been found, and the NY State Police believe they will find it, if he did jump; investigator Brian Cuccia said told the NY Times, "The river will give him up."

When sentencing him, US District Judge Colleen McMahon told him, "You were, in every meaning of the sense, a career criminal. You ruined lives. Financial fraud, white-collar crimes are every bit as heinous as every other type of crime and they will be punished severely."

Email This Entry


Comments (13) [rss]

He probably was inspired by Kenny-Boy Lay. Nothing like "death" as a way to avoid prison.

user-pic

How come in white-collar crime you get to "report" to prison? You've been convicted, you're a criminal, and if you have large amounts of money (which usually people who've been convicted usually have stashed away) it means you're a flight risk. I really don't understand - if getting convicted of a crime is supposed to suck then why not make it actually suck?

Israel will be spotted in Israel.

you can believe that he offed himself like you can believe that hilary really supports obama in her black heart.

Hillary is in Joan Jett's band? Who knew?!

If this prick thinks he's getting off with a "little plunge off a bridge", he's got another think coming. They will drag the river, send down divers, and intoduce Vietnamese catfish into a new aquatic habitat to feed on his submerged corpse and gurgle up his DNA. This fuck's goin' down!

He was driving a GMC Envoy? And a 2006?!? I guess $450 mill isn't worth what it used to be. I know he was probably trying to keep up appearances but c'mon, live a little.

I hope the cops catch him and throw him off the Bear Mountain bridge. Assisted suicide. Save us all the costs of feeding and housing this worthless fuck.

This is why criminals should go straight to jail from sentencing. Hard to imagine how a judge could release this guy after he's handled all that cash and proved himself to be a world-class lying sack of shit.

#8, he probably had half of that money earmarked for gas.

user-pic

Fled to Israel.

They all do.

it's seems far fetched that he has ever heard of the welsh band Manic Street Preachers, but they did a cover of "Suicide is Painless" and the guitar players car was found near a bridge in Wales years ago. His body was never found, but it was ruled a suicide. Strange coincidence.

Post a comment (Comment Policy)

Tips

Get your daily dose of New York first thing in the morning from our weekday newsletter, now in beta.

About Gothamist

Gothamist is a website about New York. More

Editor: Jen Chung
Publisher: Jake Dobkin

Newsmap

newsmap.jpg

Contribute

Latest Tip:

Chinese government-owned construction company wins $100 million NYC Subway contract http://www.china
[more]

Latest Photo:

Subscribe

Use an RSS reader to stay up to date with the latest news and posts from Gothamist.

All Our RSS

Follow us