Cops: Hedge Fund Swindler No Suicide

Samuel Israel III's Car Was Found Morning He Was Set To Enter Jail For Stealing $450 Million From Investors

(AP)  A federal marshal ruled out suicide Monday in the disappearance of a missing hedge fund swindler whose car was found abandoned on a bridge and predicted the fugitive would be caught because "we always get our man."

Samuel Israel III disappeared last week hours before he was supposed to start a 20-year federal prison sentence for bilking investors in his Bayou hedge funds out of $450 million. His sentence, handed down two months ago, also included paying back $300 million.

Investigators doubted a suicide almost from the moment they found Israel's 2006 GMC Envoy on the Bear Mountain Bridge over the Hudson River on June 9, though the ominous message "Suicide is Painless" was scrawled into the dust and pollen on its hood. The phrase is the title of the theme song for the "MASH" TV show, and was sung during a fake suicide in the original movie.

"We're ruling out a suicide and considering it a fugitive investigation," U.S. Marshal Joseph Guccione said Monday. "Like all fugitive cases, we're tracking every lead."

He did not mention anything specific that suggested Israel is still alive, saying only, "The evidence doesn't point to a suicide."

State police confirmed they have stopped searching the river for Israel's body.

Guccione wouldn't say whether Israel was still in the United States. He said few calls have come in from the public despite a widely publicized wanted poster.

But he sounded confident that Israel would be caught, saying, "Based on our track record, we always get our man."

Surveillance video from the bridge showed a second car pulling past Israel's SUV and stopping, and investigators are hoping to enhance the indistinct images to see what happened next. Federal officials refuse to confirm reports that the driver of the second car has been found and questioned.

The investors who lost millions with Israel's hedge funds were immediately skeptical of a suicide.

Ross Intelisano, an attorney for 20 such investors, said his clients were saying, "Show me the body, I'll believe it when I see the body.

[enriquecaliente]

Small fish. Our whole Government is corrupt. Both sides of the aisles. They''re all members of the rich elite. Their motto is "Dead to the Middle Class". And they will succeed. Why, because most of us are nothing but lemmings.

[cbsfan73]

This guy is small time compared to to the criminals that are bilking the American tax payers.

[frankbowers]

Some one told me that bin Laden and gw bush were converting to catholism on the same day; which is the day gw bush gets his walking papers from the white house. That is what blair did in England.
by the way bin Laden has taught gw bush how to play pocket pool so bush is leaving laura back at the ranch to break in a/some new bulls that might be coming.
Frank Bowers

[sociald63]

hey - can i have his car after the feds analyzed it ???

[patriot12436]

they don''t want to find ben laden. he and bush are butt buddies

[timdgrim]

One less vote for the Republican party!

[bgwinnett]

I bet he''s in Panama now along with ken Lay. LOL

[dobbershome]

I told ya.