Missing fund manager Israel not dead: official

Former hedge fund manager Samuel Israel is seen in this picture released by the U.S. Marshals office.

BOSTON (Reuters) - Samuel Israel III, a former hedge fund manager convicted of fraud, is alive and on the run a week after he staged his suicide on a bridge above New York's Hudson River, a law enforcement official said on Monday.

"The investigation is solely a fugitive investigation now," said the official who is familiar with the investigation but not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

U.S. marshals began searching for the 48-year-old Israel last Monday after he failed to show up for his 20-year prison term and his car was found abandoned on a bridge in New York.

But with no body, police said they quickly became suspicious that Israel, who cheated investors in his Bayou Group hedge fund out of $450 million, had staged a hoax.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss, Editing by Jason Szep)