Fugitive Surrenders

Former co-founder and CEO of the now collapsed Bayou hedge funds, Samuel Israel III surrendered to law enforcement officials July 2, ending a 24-day manhunt for the convicted felon, according to The New York Times.

Israel surrendered in Southwick, Mass., at 9:15 a.m. A spokesperson for the Southwick Police said that Israel was talking to his mother on the phone when he walked into the lobby of the police station before surrendering.

According to the NYT, marshals from the Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Force in Illinois had been in working closely with Israel's mother, Ann R. Israel.

Israel was scheduled to begin serving a 20-year sentence on June 9. Instead, he abandoned his GMC Envoy along the shoulder of the Bear Mountain Bridge near the Hudson River in upstate New York with the message "suicide is painless" written in dust on the hood of his truck.

Israel's girlfriend, Debra Ryan, was arrested two weeks ago and charged with aiding and abetting his flight and was later released on $75,000 bail.

According to former Assistant U.S. Attorney David Kettel, now a partner at Venable LLP which  specializes in SEC and white collar criminal defense cases, Israel is likely to have no more than five years added to his 20-year sentence.

"Israel faces only a maximum of five more years in prison on top of the original 20-year term he was supposed to begin serving the day he disappeared," said Kettel.

It was not exceedingly difficult for Israel to jump bail. Israel had an unsecured $500,000 bond. Kettel noted that defendants in much less extreme cases were made to post higher bond amounts as well as forfeit personal property and assets.