PlusEx Fugitive Hedge Fund Scammer Back in CourtEx Fugitive Hedge Fund Scammer Back in CourtThe Associated PressA hedge fund swindler who faked suicide said Thursday that he really did try to kill himself after becoming a fugitive because 'it was better to do myself in than to turn myself in.' (July 3)The three weeks that hedge fund scammer Samuel Israel the third spent on the lam will end up costing him half a million dollars and potentially more time behind bars.Israel appeared in this courthouse Thursday, a day after he turned himself over to authorities.He was supposed to begin a 20-year prison term last month but vanished on the day he was to start serving his sentence.All that was found was his vehicle parked atop a 150-foot tall bridge with the words suicide is painless written on the hood.However police soon determined that Israel didn't kill himself but rather ran away.Officers say they were close to catching him when he turned himself in.Israel now says he did in fact try to kill himself by taking pills but not on the day he vanished but rather the day before he turned himself in.However he says when that didn't work he figured he should surrender.Still, the judge in the case says he must forfeit his 500 thousand dollar bail.He's also facing an additional 10-year sentence for failing to report to prison. ___ ___, The Associated Press.