Bayou co-founder gets 20 years
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Samuel Israel, a co-founder of bankrupt hedge fund company Bayou Group, was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to defrauding investors of more than $400 million.
“I lied to you and I cheated you and I cannot put into words how sorry I am,” a visibly sweating Israel, 48, told investors as he stood before U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon.
The sentence brings to a close the criminal prosecutions stemming from the company’s collapse. Bayou filed for bankruptcy in May 2006, prompting lawsuits claiming it operated a “Ponzi scheme” that paid old investors with money from new ones. Israel faced as many as 30 years in prison had he been convicted at trial.
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