Convict says 2d suicide try was real

Back in custody: Samuel Israel, the convicted founder of hedge fund firm Bayou Group LLC. (Steven Lee Miller/Bloomberg News)

NEW YORK - Samuel Israel, the convicted founder of hedge fund firm Bayou Group LLC who faked suicide and jumped bail rather than face 20 years in prison, returned to court and told a judge he really tried to kill himself three days ago.

Twenty-three days after fleeing, Israel turned himself in to police Wednesday in Southwick, Mass. Yesterday, he was brought before US District Judge Colleen McMahon in Manhattan, who ordered him to begin his sentence immediately. He also faces a bail-jumping charge that may add 10 years.

"Welcome back, Mr. Israel," McMahon said.

The judge sentenced the former hedge fund chief in April after he pleaded guilty in 2005 to directing a $400 million scheme at the now defunct Stamford, Conn., company. At the time, she let him remain free until his sentence began. Yesterday, a visibly angry McMahon said she would force him to forfeit his $500,000 bail, guaranteed by his parents. When he began to respond, she cut him off, telling him to stand when he spoke.

"If you can ride a motorcycle, Mr. Israel, you can stand up in my courtroom," she told him.

Israel, 48, arrived on a Yamaha motor scooter to turn himself in yesterday. He told McMahon that he tried to kill himself two days before by taking large amounts of morphine and Fentanyl patches.

"I thought it was better to do myself in than turn myself in," said a bearded Israel. "I woke up a little battered and bruised. I realized God didn't want me to do that, and I turned myself in."

The judge denied a request by Israel's lawyer, Barry Bohrer, that his client receive medical attention. Israel has had nine back operations and has a spinal rod and a pacemaker.

"I did that once and Mr. Israel repaid me amply by not showing up to the medical facility to which he was designated," McMahon said. "It was thrown in my face the last time."

On June 9, the day he was to report to the Fort Devens federal prison in Massachusetts, Israel's car was found on a bridge north of New York City with the message "suicide is painless" written in the dust on the windshield.

Within a week, state and federal authorities in New York ruled out suicide and launched an international manhunt.

Israel's sentence, which included a $300 million fine, was one of the stiffest prison terms handed down for a white-collar defendant since the 2001 collapse of Enron Corp.