A U.S. judge said Arthur Nadel, who prosecutors accuse of defrauding investors of more than $300 million, will remain in jail until a bond hearing can be held next week, after the government said he poses a risk of flight, Bloomberg reported.
U.S. District Judge Denise Cote told lawyers in the case that she would delay any decision on setting bail for Nadel until a Feb. 19 conference, after she listened to more than two hours of arguments today about Nadel's character and reliability.
"See if you can create a reasonable bail package," Cote told lawyers. "What I'm hoping is that the parties agree and we'll put this over until next week."
Assistant Manhattan U.S. Attorney Reed Brodsky today called Nadel, 76, an "extraordinary" flight risk, saying the evidence against the hedge-fund adviser is "overwhelming" and that he faces a lifelong prison term if convicted. In court papers, Brodsky said a "significant" amount of money is missing. He told Cote today that government has evidence Nadel controlled at least $50 million of investor funds.
Nadel disappeared for two weeks after authorities in Florida began investigating investors' complaints. In court papers, his lawyers, Barry Cohen and Todd Foster, asked that he be released on bail with electronic monitoring, surrender all of his travel documents and agree to limits on his communications with outsiders.