Girlfriend of Bayou investment scammer sentenced to 3 years of probation

A girlfriend of Bayou hedge fund group head Samuel Israel was sentenced to three years of probation, including four months of house arrest, on Tuesday for helping him stage suicide to avoid going to prison. Israel himself is now serving a 20-year sentence for cheating investors out of about $450 million.

Under the federal law Debra Ryan, of Armonk, New York, might have been ordered to spend up to 10 years in prison, after pleading guilty in February to aiding and abetting hedge fund manager Samuel Israel's efforts to escape from authorities. She admitted she helped him in carrying out his escape last June as well as misleading law enforcement officers investigating his disappearance.

"This has been a horrible ordeal for Ms. Ryan and she is glad it is finally behind her," her attorney, Richard Strassberg, said in a statement.

Kenneth Karas, U.S. District Judge White Plains, New York, passed the sentence to Ryan. He also instructed her to have no contact with Israel. In January the judge barred Ryan from having any contact with Israel because she had been charged with mailing him a magazine and $300 cash in prison.