Sandy Bentley Biography

Sandy Bentley (born May 18, 1978 in Joliet, Illinois) is notable both individually and with her sister Amanda (Mandy) Bentley as the Bentley Twins. The 5 foot 9 inch tall twins were featured on the May 2000 cover of Playboy Magazine and were well known as Hugh Hefner's live-in lovers at the Playboy Mansion, during 1999 and 2000.

Subsequent to her relationship with Hefner, Sandy became involved with financier Mark Yagalla, who lavished her with expensive gifts worth over $6 million, including jewels, furs, automobiles, and an expensive home in Las Vegas.

By the late 1990s, Yagalla had earned a reputation as an investment whiz kid. He had begun trading securities as a teenager and eventually founded a number of trading companies on the East Coast, after dropping out of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. From 1994 to 2000, Yagalla's companies collected $40 million from investors, offering returns of up to 80% from short-term equity trades and other investments. However, Yagalla invested little of the money; instead he spent it on a lavish lifestyle. He covered up with falsified statements, and by paying equity distributions concealed as profits. In August 1999 Yagalla was introduced to Sandy Bentley in Las Vegas by another Playboy model, Tishara Lee Cousino, Playboy's Miss May 1999.

After the 23-year-old Yagalla was arrested for conducting a Ponzi scam, a federal receiver was appointed to recover assets which Yagalla had embezzled from the clients of his $40 million Asbury Capital Fund. Sandy was ordered to return the gifts, including nearly one million dollars in jewelry. Sandy and her new boyfriend, nightclub doorman Michael Tardio, collaborated to sell some of the jewelry. Tardio made arrangements to meet a potential buyer on the evening of September 2, 2002; however, Tardio and his accomplice Christopher Monson were found later that night, riddled with bullets in a burning Mercedes SUV, parked in Studio City, California. The jewelry was never recovered.

In 2003, Yagalla pleaded guilty to securities fraud, and was sentenced to five years and five months at Pensacola Federal Prison. The government recovered $1.3 million from an auction of his assets.

In February 2011, the crime was featured in the CBS documentary series 48 Hours Mystery and a $75,000 reward was offered by the City Council of Studio City, California to help solve the crime. Many of those involved in the events were patrons Garden of Eden nightclub, where Tardio was a doorman.

The twin sisters were featured on the October 3, 2005 episode of Two and a Half Men, the September 17, 2000 episode of Sex and the City, and the April 24, 2000 episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Bibliography

• New York Daily News, Nancy Dillon, 2/19/2011
• Millions of Dollars in Hot Jewelry Leads to Murder, CBS News, Greg Fisher, 2/19/2011
• A Playmate, a Ponzi scheme, Jewels and Murder, CBS News, Chris O'Connell, Ira Sutow and Greg Fisher, 2/19/2011
• Fund Manager, 23 Years Old, Is Arrested on Fraud Charges, Seth Schiesel, New York Times, 10/18/2000
• Reward Offered For Info In 2002 Double Murder, CBS Los Angeles, 2/18/2011
• Police seek help solving 2002 LA double killing, Thomas Watkins, Washington Times, 2/18/2011
• A Camera-Ready Life, Gina Piccalo and Louise Roug, Los Angeles Times, 12/12/2001
• Hedge Fund Has-Beens Amanda Cantrell, CNN/Money, 7/11/2005
• City Council offers $75,000 reward in Studio City murder case, C.J. Lin, Daily News Los Angeles, 2/18/2011
• Carpet Burns and a Bite Mark TV Guide
• Police Revisit 2002 Homicide Case Richard Fausset and Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times, 12/19/2003
• The Playboy After Dark, Sharon Waxman, Washington Post, 10/10/1999