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Sam finally gives up:

Samuel Israel, the fugitive hedge-fund firm founder convicted of directing a $400 million fraud at Bayou Group LLC, surrendered in Massachusetts, almost a month after fleeing instead of starting his 20-year prison sentence.

Israel, 48, turned himself in at 9:15 a.m. today, according to Sue Anderson, assistant to Southwick, Massachusetts, Police Chief Mark Krynicki. Southwick, near the Connecticut border, is about 117 miles from where Israel disappeared in New York the day he was to report to a federal prison northwest of Boston.

"He is in federal custody," Rebekah Carmichael, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia in Manhattan, said in an e-mailed statement.

Israel pleaded guilty in 2005 to securities fraud. His car was found June 9 on a bridge north of New York City with the message "suicide is painless" written in the dust on its windshield. Within a week, state and federal authorities in New York, where he pleaded guilty, ruled out suicide and launched an international manhunt.

Posted by edelfenbein at July 2, 2008 11:53 AM