Missing Florida Money Manager Will Remain in Jail After Turning Himself in to FBI

A missing hedge fund manager who owes millions and is believed to have staged his own death will remain behind bars after turning himself in to the FBI Tuesday morning.

A federal judge ordered Arthur G. Nadel held at least until Friday. The government had asked for more time to prepare for a bail hearing, which is scheduled for then.

Nadel's attorney, Barry Cohen, said his client was not violent and should be released following a hearing Tuesday afternoon in Tampa. The attorney argued Nadel has been suffering from emotional problems and needed treatment.

Asked outside court where his client had been, Cohen said, "He went away for a while just to be alone." He said Nadel turned himself in as soon as he learned about the charges.

Nadel, who appeared in court chained at the waist and wrists, disappeared earlier this month just as he was due to pay investors $50 million. Accompanied by lawyers, he turned himself in at the FBI Tampa field office Tuesday morning and was arrested.

He faces federal securities and wire fraud charges.

Nadel's Sarasota, Fla.-based firm Valhalla Management is under investigation for investment and asset theft.

Nadel allegedly owes investors in his funds a $50 million payout, which he was due to give them before he vanished.

Federal regulators have charged Nadel with fraud, saying he misled investors and overstated the value of investments in the six funds by about $300 million.

Nadel turned himself in to Tampa agents at 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, accompanied by two attorneys, FBI Special Agent David Couvertier told FOX News. He was turned over to the U.S. Marshals facility in Tampa.

He will ultimately be prosecuted in New York, law enforcement officials said.

The Florida financier has been compared to a small-scale Bernard Madoff — the former NASDAQ chief and hedge fund manager who is under house arrest for orchestrating a far-reaching, $50 billion Ponzi scheme that hurt scores of investors.

The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office said Nadel planned his disappearance.

Nadel was reported missing by his wife on Jan. 14. He left a note for her telling her he felt guilty about mismanaging people's money and threatening to kill himself, according to a sheriff's report released last week.

The 76-year-old financier told his wife he was going to his office, but he wasn't there when she arrived about two hours later.

Nadel then called and said he'd left something for her in a desk drawer at their ranch house in Sarasota. That's where she found a suicide note, according to the sheriff's report. In it, Nadel told his wife how much he loved her. He also said he felt guilty about losing clients' money.

"The subject wrote that as a result of his management of other people's money that there are those that would like to kill him," the sheriff's report states, "but that he will do it himself."

His car vanished with him, but was later found at a Sarasota airport.

Pepper spray manufacturer Mace Security International claims Nadel owes them $2.2 million. The company said in a release last Tuesday that they'd been informed the deposits could not be located, and that documents Nadel had provided were not authentic.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.