I trust everyone had a safe and enjoyable 4th of July weekend and now getting back to work after a three-day weekend or long family vacation, I thought some light informative reading would be appreciated.
As many of our readers know, aside from the technical newsletters the Asset Protection Society puts out every other week, we also, as headlines demand, alert out readers to some of the many scams and schemers in the market place; the latest being Samuel Israel, III.
This bulletin could have been released last week but with the holiday and vacations I decided to hold off until today. On July 2, 2008, Samuel Israel turned himself into the federal authorities after eluding them for nearly a month.
On April 20th, Samuel Israel the co-founder and chief executive of the now-defunct Bayou Group hedge fund was sentenced to 20 years in prison and ordered to pay $300 million to some of the investors who trusted him.
What did Israel do?
Israel and two of his colleagues scammed unsuspecting investors out of $450 million dollars by announcing “nonexistent profits and providing fake audits.” This fraud made millions for Israel and his colleagues though the amount of cash he had with him while on the run is unknown. He did help authorities recover the funds but it is unknown if he hid any money to aid in his getaway.
On the day that Israel was set to begin his prison term, his vehicle was found on a bridge in New York with the words “Suicide is Painless” written in dust on the dashboard. His intentions, to convince authorities that he had committed suicide yet remain free and on the run with the millions of dollars in commissions he had made from trades from unsuspecting investors.
This newsletter is meant to alert the reader of the capture of a hedge fund conman. It is intended to serve as a warning to readers that you need to do your due diligence when selecting which advisor you choose to work with. The APS™ offers advice for many different asset protection tools. Our members offer various domestic and international tools for their clients’ “global” asset protection needs. If you are not already a member of the APS™ please surf our site to learn more about domestic and international LLCs, FLPs, Offshore Asset Protection Trusts, and many other asset protection tools.
Over the past year we have alerted you to the demise of other scammers and schemers in the marketplace today and while Israel was not an asset protection planner, I thought it was worth mentioning because you need to be sure that your assets are being handled by a competent, ethical, knowledgeable, and trustworthy advisor. If you would like to learn more about the APS™, please click here .
Sincerely,
Jason K. Ruggerio, J.D.