After four delays, Samuel Israel III, the co-founder of Bayou Group, has begun serving his 20-year sentence for defrauding his hedge fund investors of $450 million. The court earlier ordered him to undergo medical examinations due to a methadone addiction, his staging a suicide and his claim that he was only able to understand between 60% and 70% of proceedings.
Judge Kenneth Karas of U.S. District Court in White Plains also permitted Israel to plead guilty to bail jumping, for which he will be sentenced on June 24 up to 18 months consecutively on top of the 20-year fraud conviction.
