Police Investigating Possible Suicide by Hedge Fund Cheat

Disgraced, physically incapacitated, and suffering from depression, hedge fund trader Samuel Israel III, failed to show up to begin a 20 year federal prison sentence today on charges of defrauding investors of $400 million, officials said. New York State police now are investigating whether he committed suicide after a car registered to him was found abandoned at the Bear Mountain Bridge along with a rambling suicide note, other officials confirm.

Israel, a co-founder of the hedge-fund company Bayou Group, was sentenced in April to 20 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $300 million after pleading guilty to defrauding investors in his now-bankrupt firm.