Hedge Fund Managers Who Escaped US Police

Authorities are hunting for former hedge fund manager Samuel Israel, who appears to have staged his death a week a ago. With no body, authorities were all but certain Israel had staged a hoax.

U.S. Marshals, who track fugitives, are now considering the case to be soley a fugitive investigation. Below is a summary of other hedge fund managers who escaped authorities in the last years.

Samuel Israel - Ran Bayou Group hedge fund, which collapsed in 2005. Sentenced to 20 years in prison in April 2008 for having cheated investors out of $450 million, he failed to show up at Massachusetts prison on June, 9. Police found his GMC Envoy abandoned on a bridge. U.S. Marshals said he should be considered armed and dangerous.

Kirk Wright - Ran International Management Associates and swindled investors including professional football players out of more than $100 million. He bought an Aston Martin, Jaguar and Bentley and other luxury items, and was on the run for months before being arrested at a hotel in Miami Beach. An Atlanta jury recently convicted him of mail fraud. He hanged himself in his prison cell in May.

Angelo Haligiannis - Was arrested in Greece in September 2007 after having fled the United States in January 2006. Authorities said Haligiannis cut off his ankle monitoring device one day before he was scheduled to be sentenced to a 15 year prison term. The fund manager, who pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud for having lied to investors in his Sterling Watters Capital Advisors fund, lived in expensive hotels and was spotted gambling and sipping champagne.

Michael Berger - Was arrested in July, 2007 in Austria while driving his car. He eluded U.S. authorities for five years. His Manhattan Investment Fund lost $400 million for clients. Berger, an Austrian citizen, pleaded guilty to charges of securities fraud in the United States in 2000 and went on the run two years later. At one point he was also seen on the Caribbean island of Dominica, which has no extradition treaties with the United States.

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