Hedgie Tried To Kill Himself By Eating His Fentanyl Patches
Israel, who was found guilty of fleecing investors of $450m, jumped bail last month rather than report to the US prison service to begin a 20-year prison sentence. He was hauled before a judge Thursday, and admitted: 'I ate the balance of my fentanyl patches because I thought it was better to do myself in than to turn myself in'. For the uninitiated (and we were), fentanyl is a powerful opioid analgesic with a potency around 81 times that of morphine. It is usually used during or following surgery for pain management. Due to its potency, it is listed as a Schedule II drug in the US.
Anyway, Israel survived his suicide attempt (he apparently took 175 tablets of morphine in addition to the fentanyl patches), claiming that when he woke up and realised that he wasn't dead he understood that God didn't want him to die (no, Samuel, God probably wanted you to do your jail time!). The former hedge fund manager now faces up to 10 more years for jumping bail. He is thought likely to be made an example of, as US Marshalls and federal police spent thousands of man-hours seeking his whereabouts. Israel was due to serve his original time at a minimum security prison. That appears unlikely now.
Finally, Reuters reports that Phillip Bennett, the former CEO of Refco, was sentenced to 16 years in clink Thursday, after pleading guilty to 20 counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering in February. Bennett was instrumental in the $2.4bn fraud that eventually bankrupted his firm. The sentencing judge said: 'You are the architect of the Refco fraud. Individuals who commit crimes like yours are often staggeringly arrogant'.