Looks like Samuel Israel III, the hedge fund manager convicted of fraud, may be alive and well and camping in a state park near you.
Federal authorities announced Thursday that they had arrested Israel’s girlfriend, Debra L. Ryan, 45.
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They did this after she provided new details about his disappearance and admitted for the first time to her part in his attempt to fake his suicide and avoid prison.
According to a complaint filed by a deputy U.S. marshal, Ryan told investigators that on June 8, a day before Israel was to report to prison, Ryan helped Israel pack his belongings in a recreational vehicle that was at their Armonk, N.Y., home.
On the morning of June 9, Israel drove the RV about 20 miles north of Armonk to a rest area off Interstate 684 near the intersection of Interstate 84.
Ryan followed Israel in another vehicle and took him back to their home, leaving the RV in the rest stop, according to the complaint.
Later in the day, Israel’s SUV was founded parked on the Bear Mountain Bridge, which is about 20 miles west of the rest stop off Interstate 684 where the RV was left.
The SUV on the bridge had the phrase “Suicide is Painless” written in dust on the hood. The phrase is the title of the theme song for the movie and television versions of M*A*S*H.
Authorities searched the Hudson River below the bridge; they also began searching for Israel on the assumption that he might have faked his suicide and was on the run.
Ryan told investigators then that Israel had left their house in the morning, saying he was going to drive himself to the federal prison in Ayer, Mass., where he was supposed to report by 2 p.m.
On June 10, according to the complaint, she also told them she had found a suicide note written by Israel.
Ryan changed her story on Thursday, according to the complaint.
She was then charged with aiding and abetting Israel in his flight. Free on $75,000 bail, she faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
According to the New York Post, she is an artist who decorates homes for Christmas. The complaint states that Ryan had lived with Israel for several years.
Israel, 48, pleaded guilty in September 2005, for his part in a $400 million fraud involving his company, Bayou Management LLC, and some of its hedge funds.
Two other officers in the company, Daniel Marino and James G. Marquez, also pleaded guilty and are serving prison terms.
The son of a prominent New Orleans family, Israel had started Bayou in the mid 1990s.
Though the company did not perform well almost from the start, it reported substantial profits that were verified by phony accounting reports.
Israel lived well on the fees generated by the fake reports, even renting Donald Trump’s mansion in Mount Kisco, N.Y., for $32,000 a month.
The funds collapsed in August 2005 when Bayou could not fulfill an investor’s request to withdraw $55 million.
U.S. marshals have issued a nationwide alert for Israel. He may be driving a 2007 white Coachman Freelander, they said, with New York plates EEN-5973.
He also may have a blue, 2005 Yamaha motor scooter strapped on to the RV. Ryan told authorities that she helped him attach the scooter to the lift on the vehicle on June 7.
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