Bayou billionaires death
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Joanne Rock is a USA Today bestselling author of over one hundred books, from historical romance to small-town family sagas. She enjoys romance for prioritizing relationships and encouraging readers to follow their dreams. A frequent speaker at regional and national writing conferences she enjoys giving back to the writing community that nurtured and inspired her early career. She has a master's degree in Literature from the University of Louisville and has taught fiction, film, and writing at the college level. When she's not writing, Joanne enjoys travel to gather new ideas.
Joanne's love of reading began at a young age and her collection of vintage Nancy Drew books holds a place of honor in her book collection. A member of her local "Friends of the Library" in her teens, she still reads voraciously and widely, with interests in psychology, history, world religions, and art. Curating her extensive book shelves is both a joy and a challenge, but she still takes inspiration from the books around her. Learn more about Joanne's wri
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Bayou Hedge Fund Group
Fraudulent investment scheme, 1996–2006
The Bayou Hedge Fund Group (1996-2006) was a group of companies and hedge funds founded and headed by Samuel Israel III. Approximately $450m was raised by the group from investors, who were defrauded from nearly the start with funds being misappropriated for personal use.
History
After poor returns in 1998, the investors were lied to about the fund's returns, and a fake accounting firm was set up to provide misleading audited results.[1]
In 2005, Samuel Israel III and CFO Daniel Marino pleaded guilty to multiple charges including conspiracy and fraud. Marino was convicted of fraud and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Israel was sentenced to 20 years prison and ordered to forfeit $300 million.[2] At his sentencing Israel said "I lied to you and I cheated you and I cannot put into words how sorry I am."[3]
Scandal
Starting with $600,000 of outside money in 1996, investors eventually gave the fund US$300 million. Investors were allured by a prospectus stating there
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The Untold Truth Of Bayou Billionaires
One of the biggest draws of the show was the very ordinary nature of the people involved. They could have been anyone's neighbors, and that kept people tuning in. When the show started, Valerie was living in a trailer on her parents' property, along with her three children: Jessica, Devyn and Nikki. Because people can be cruel, the internet was flooded with comments about Valerie's seemingly odd mannerisms and behavior, prompting her to give an interview with CMT regarding her medical condition. That interview has since disappeared, but Starcasm has kept some of the excerpts of the conversation where Valerie speaks candidly about her 2008 diagnosis.
Valerie said she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis after going to a series of doctors, each of whom told her it was stress or, even worse, it was all in her head. She suffered from numbness in her legs, which she described as the pins-and-needles feeling that happens when your foot falls asleep. Her pins-and-needles never went away, though, and she was finally diagnosed after being admit
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