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Fugitive Investor Turns Himself In

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI

esilvestrini@tampatrib.com

Published: January 28, 2009

TAMPA - Arthur Nadel, the hedge fund manager from Sarasota who disappeared recently, turned himself in Tuesday, an FBI spokesman said.

Before disappearing, Nadel wrote to his wife, instructing her to take money out of credit and other accounts before the authorities blocked access, a criminal complaint states.

The funds Nadel controlled were nearly empty, but Nadel had homes in Sarasota and North Carolina and owned 500 acres of a development in North Carolina and three private planes, the complaint states.

Nadel, 76, surrendered at 9:45 a.m. at the Tampa field office, FBI spokesman Dave Couvertier said. Two lawyers, Barry Cohen and his partner, Todd Foster, were with him.
Nadel appeared in court Tuesday afternoon with shackles on his hands and feet. Several family members, including his wife, sat in the courtroom spectator section but declined to talk to reporters.

Cohen told U.S. Magistrate Mark Pizzo that Nadel is "suffering some emotional problems" and has been "visiting with a psychiatrist the past week." Nadel wanted to check himself in to a hospital but turned himself in at the insistence of the U.S. attorney's office, Cohen said.

Cohen didn't say where Nadel has been the past 13 days but told Pizzo his client "came back when he was notified of a warrant."
Nadel initially will be prosecuted in the Southern District of New York, said Couvertier, who said the Tampa and New York offices of the FBI are working together. He said Nadel has victims around the world.

A federal criminal complaint out of New York charges Nadel with securities and wire fraud. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, along with financial penalties.
Nadel is accused of misleading investors by exaggerating the level of money in his investment funds and by inflating their investment returns, according to the U.S. attorney's office complaint and a similar civil court complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Investigators also allege that Nadel transferred millions of dollars of investors' money to bank accounts he controlled.

A court-appointed receiver overseeing Nadel's investment companies says in a court filing that Nadel's "scheme" dates at least to 2003.

Nadel's family reported him missing Jan. 14.

News Channel 8 reporter Krista Klaus contributed to this report.

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