(Adds details and quotes from hearing)

By Grant McCool

NEW YORK, Jan 22 (Reuters) - A high-profile New York lawyer accused of running an investment scam that allegedly caused $380 million in losses failed to make bail on Thursday when a U.S. judge set conditions he could not meet.

After a hearing in which comparisons were made with accused swindler Bernard Madoff's release on $10 million bail and his being placed under house arrest and 24-hour surveillance, attorney Marc Dreier returned to the jail where he has been held since his Dec. 7 arrest.

"I believe the risk of flight is greater in Mr. Dreier's case than in Mr. Madoff's case," U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas Eaton said in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

The judge said that Dreier was accused of going to Canada in November to try to sell $33 million in bogus promissory notes at a time when he already knew that his fraud was being exposed.

"It frankly suggests a mental disorder, confronted as he was for several weeks, he did something entirely reckless," the judge said. "It makes this case much different from the Madoff case."

According to court documents, Madoff told his two sons that he was ruined after running "a giant Ponzi scheme" and that he wanted to pay out $200 million to $300 million to close associates and family before turning himself in. Madoff was arrested and charged before those payments could be made.

Eaton presided over the initial court appearance by Madoff on Dec. 11 after authorities said he confessed to a securities fraud with potential losses of $50 billion. Prosecutors have failed to persuade two judges to jail Madoff.