Jailed Florida fund manager Nadel seeks release

NEW YORK, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Jailed Florida hedge fund manager Arthur Nadel, awaiting trial on charges of running a $360 million investment fraud, is seeking release on reduced bail.

A court officer had no objections to releasing the 77-year-old Nadel, who is in "ill health," so long as the court approves, Nadel's lawyer said in a letter to U.S. District Judge John Koeltl in Manhattan.

Nadel is seeking release on a $1 million bond, backed in part by his Sarasota, Florida home, and would agree to electronic monitoring and home confinement.

"After eight months in jail, Mr. Nadel's circumstances have been so drastically reduced and his thoughts so focused on concern for his wife that he has no desire whatsoever to flee and incur any risk to her," lawyer Mark Gombiner wrote.

Nadel disappeared for two weeks in January prior to his arrest. Gombiner contended that at most "ambiguous evidence and speculation" supports the idea his client is a flight risk now, and that with a trial "still many months away," continued detention would violated Nadel's due process rights.

The government charged Nadel with securities, mail and wire fraud over an alleged 10-year scheme to bilk investors.

It said more than 350 clients invested in excess of $360 million in six of Nadel's funds, letting him cop tens of millions of dollars in fees.

Nadel's case has been compared to that of Ponzi scheme operator Bernard Madoff, who is serving a 150-year prison sentence.

The case is U.S. v. Nadel, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan), No. 09-433. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Gary Hill)