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FRAUDSTER CLEARED FOR TRIAL

A cheerful-looking Samuel Israel yesterday was ruled mentally competent to face prosecution for skipping out on a 20- year prison term after cheating investors out of $450 million.

White Plains federal Judge Kenneth Karas said a Bureau of Prisons report indicated the hedge-fund fraudster “understands the charges against him” after undergoing treatment.

Israel, who escaped last summer by faking a suicide plunge into the Hudson River, tried to plead guilty to bail jumping in August, but Karas rejected his plea after Israel said methadone treatment was clouding his judgment.

Defense lawyer Barry Bohrer said Israel, who got hooked on painkillers after back surgery, was now on “stable medication.”

Borher said “no decision has been made” as to how Israel will plead when he returns to court on March 16.