It had been announced a few weeks abck that Kroll had been called in to track down Wright and the now "dissipated" assets of his former hedge fund, International Management Associates. While the agreement to hire the investigative juggernaut is still awaiting approval by the court, this Rocky Mountain News article provides some additional details regarding the ongoing case.

Kroll's on the case - Famed private eye may help find missing hedge fund millions

By James Paton
Rocky Mountain News
March 24, 2006

...Kroll Inc., whose sleuths could receive up to $450 an hour, has been asked to search for the assets of International Management Associates, an Atlanta firm, according to court documents filed Thursday. An agreement to hire the high-profile investigator awaits court approval.

Federal regulators have accused the company and its founder and Chief Executive Kirk Wright of hiding "massive" losses from investors after reeling in as much as $185 million from hundreds of people, including a few one-time Broncos, prominent doctors and others.

Nearly all of the cash has vanished, according to the lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The allegations came on the heels of a complaint leveled by former Broncos Steve Atwater, Terrell Davis and Ray Crockett, and current wide receiver Rod Smith.

They sued after the hedge fund firm refused to return their money and claimed that Wright had made a big bet short-selling stock of Time Warner even though he had promised not to take on that kind of risk. Efforts to reach the players have been unsuccessful.

International Management told investors that its Taurus Fund rose 20 percent last year, while in reality the assets of the fund and other products "had been largely dissipated" by 2005, the SEC said...

...Wright, the Harvard-educated head of International Management, took money from the hedge funds and made more than $6 million in investments in several real estate ventures and bought a Jaguar, a Bentley, an Aston Martin and other cars, in addition to $600,000 in art and jewelry, SEC papers show...

...Kroll, founded by Jules Kroll and based in New York, declined to comment on the hedge fund case.

More here in the full article.

-- MDT

Labels: Kirk Wright, Kroll