Say you have a ponzi scheme that's lost $350 million dollars of Sarasota-area investor cash — where do you go to hide? South of France is nice. Switzerland is a classic. Even just a little embezzled money can set you up nicely in Africa or South America.
But after discovering his car at the Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport, investigators from the U.S. Marshals thought he hopped a plane to Slidell, LA. Really? Bad choice.
Even worse choice? Stay close to home. After leading the government on a merry chase, the 76 year-old Nadel turned himself in to authorites in Tampa this morning. Best quote of the story so far is Sarasota Herald-Tribune's:
Investors have wondered since Nadel vanished Jan. 14 whether the hedge fund manager had been running a classic pyramid scam or had possibly lost the money through titanically bad trading.
"Titanically bad?" Hundreds of corporate CEOs are getting federal bailout money for doing worse than Nadel, and they never had to flee to Slidell. Wrong time, wrong place, Nadel.
This article appears in Jan 21-27, 2009.