Hedge-fund swindler Samuel Israel III may finally be allowed to plead guilty to skipping out on prison.
The 49-year-old Israel is expected to admit Monday in federal court in White Plains that he went on the lam in June rather than serve his 20-year stretch for bilking millions from investors.
Israel, a co-founder of the Stamford, Conn.-based Bayou hedge funds, has never denied that he faked his suicide and took off in an RV for nearly a month before surrendering in Southwick, Mass.
But Judge Kenneth Karas refused to accept a guilty plea when Israel, of Armonk, told him that treatment for a drug addiction was affecting his thinking. Instead, the judge ordered a medical evaluation, which found Israel competent to stand trial _ or plead guilty.
Copyright The Associated Press
