Okay. I’ve hesitated to post this blog entry simply because I hate to mess up with life and death situations. It’s too intense and I don’t want to be rude or wrong. But since the world is almost sure that Samuel Israel, the former founder of Bayou Group LLC is fooling everyone with his phony suicide , why not speculating about the conditions of his very unlikely death?

I’m hoping that he did not kill himself, no matter how painless death is when granted by the act of jumping off a bridge. I would feel lousy to poke fun at a suicide victim, if he was one and to have hurt his family. After all, the crook is a human being. But since everyone is convinced that the suicide is fake –and I mean everyone: Not just my colleagues but also the market, the investors, the U.S. authorities, the New York State Police, the FBI…I suspect Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will have a speech about that too—then let me free myself from any guilt. Since the thief is probably on the lam , let’s talk about suicide frauds and unfound corpses.

I only have two points remotely related to the key issue which is: Where is he?
(more…)

Kirk Wright killed himself Saturday morning in his cell in the South Fulton Municipal Regional Jail, in Union City, Georgia.

This comes as something of a shock. HedgeWorld has followed the story of Mr. Wright’s legal travails since his once high-flying asset management firm, International Management Associates LLC, seemed to dissolve overnightin February 2006. It offered the usual satisfaction of such stories – the chance to play armchair Sherlock Holmes, and then the opportunity to follow the work of the real-life investigators as they unraveled what had happened.
(more…)

On Tuesday, May 13, Kevin J. Carey, the bankruptcy judge hearing the matter of Dura Automotive in Delaware, signed an order confirming that auto parts’ concern’s most recent plan of reorganization.

Dura’s previous plan fell apart in December for a couple of reasons: one unfortunate, the other tragic. The misfortune of course was the general credit crunch, which made it impossible for the company to raise the $425 million in new debt its previous plan required.
(more…)