Florida ? Around the same time he mysteriously vanished, hedge fund manager Arthur G. Nadel owed a $50 million payout to some of the investors who had entrusted their life savings to him, an accountant said Monday.

Instead, they learned their money was gone — and now they’re left asking if it was all a bad investment, or if they were scammed.

The search for Nadel entered its sixth day Monday as more investors contacted authorities with concerns their savings, and Nadel, were gone forever. Nadel’s green Subaru was found in a Sarasota airport parking lot Jan. 15, and he left his family a note in which he appeared to be “very distraught,” said Lt. Chuck Lesaltato of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s office.