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The June 18, 2008 edition of the Journal-News featured an article by Allan Drury entitled “Search for swindler uses old, new methods.” The article discusses the search for Samuel Israel III, who has not been seen since June 9, the day he was supposed to have reported to a federal prison in Ayer, Mass., to serve a 20-year sentence for defrauding investors in the Bayou hedge funds of more than $450 million.

Drury notes that investigators looking for Israel III are almost certainly using high-technology electronic surveillance to detect his phone calls, e-mails and financial transactions, but writes that “it’s also a safe bet that they're using another technique, one that’s simpler and older but can be just as effective: pressure. That heat is being applied to Israel’s friends, family members, business associates and anyone else authorities think may be a candidate to have contact with Israel.”

Pryor Cashman Partner Robert Ray was interviewed by Drury for the article and asked what people should do if they are contacted by Israel. As Drury wrote:  “And there's good reason for anyone Israel contacts to tell authorities, said Robert Ray, a criminal defense lawyer in New York and former independent counsel who investigated President Clinton. Offering Israel any advice, even an offhand suggestion as to where he should go, who he should contact or where he could get money, would make the person providing the advice guilty of aiding a fugitive, Ray said.”

To read the entire article, please click here.