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Previous Posts Archives
4/27/2009
Hennessee Group Fined on Bayou Hedge Fund Due Diligence Failures
Hennessee Group, a New York-based investment adviser is facing a $800,000 fine from the SEC due to the firm's failure to perform promised due diligence of the Bayou Group hedge fund, once run by eventual death-faking, scooter-riding fugitive from justice, Sam Israel.

Bayou, of course, was one of the biggest hedge fund flame-outs of all time, with many of the fund's major players doing jail time. The SEC complaint details about 40 Hennessee clients who altogether has about $56 million invested inthe Bayou fund.

Hennssee head, Charles Gradante has neither confirmed or denied wrongdoing in the matter. While he hasn't commented on the specifics of his own case, Gradante has submitted a letter to the SEC with a variety of recommendations for how other migh avoid Hennessee's fate.

Amongst Gradante's recommendations - increased reguation of hedge fund borrowing and requiring that third parties, such has Kroll, be hired to conductforencic audits of hedge fund financial statements. More here, via Bloomberg.

-- MDT

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3/23/2009
Hedge Funds Increasingly Turning to Investigators for Due Diligence Assistance
Good stuff, here, from Bloomberg. Taking the obligatory stroll through Madoff country, they've put together a decent piece on how hedge fundies are using investigators to avoid being the next ones burned.

Investment firms using P.I.s is certainly nothing new, but one might imagine that recent headlines combined with a reenvigorated regulatory apparatus have heated up the market a bit.

Look for comments from Randy Shain of Backtrack/First Advantage Corp. as well as Pete Turecek of Kroll.

And a word of thanks to the friendly tipster who pointed me toward the article.

-- MDT

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2/01/2009
Madoff Mess Brings New Hedge Fund Disclosures
So now we're taking sort of dingy gray boxes verses black ones.

-- MDT

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12/09/2008
Mark Dreier Does Not Pass Go
Perpetrating a $100 million dollar fraud, means directly to jail.

--MDT

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11/06/2008
Bayou Hedge Fund Swindler Gets Note From Doctor, Goes to Medical Prison
I know I am a little late posting this, but the past week has been all election all the time, so I apologize for my tardiness. If you have yet to read about the latest turn in the twisted tale of fraudster (and former dead guy), Sam Israel you can do so right here.

-- MDT

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9/22/2008
They've Always Got to Stick it to The Hedge Funds
On both sides of the Atlantic, it seems.

-- MDT

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8/01/2008
Sam Israel Forced to Give Up His Scooter
Oh the humanity!

A new low for the former hedge fund fugitive.

-- MDT

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7/22/2008
More Charges for Bear Stearns Managers?
So it seems.

-- MDT

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7/21/2008
Hedge Funds Once Again Looking Like Greener Pastures for Investment Bankers
Yes, yes... Scandal is just around the corner, returns are down and portfolio allocations are slowing. Hedge funds may even be the root of all evil. But given the dismal state of banking these days, hedge funds are looking like a mighty good place to be for many of Wall Street's finest.

Top talent is making the move to alternative assest, with major jumps like GLG's pick up of former Goldman Sachs' top trader, Driss Ben-Brahim. GLG also snagged Karim Abdel-Motaal and Bart Turtelboom, former co-global emerging market chiefs for Morgan Stanley.

Happy headhunting...

-- MDT

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SEC's Subpoenas on Rumor Mongering Investigation Spur Wall Street to (Reluctant) Action
With 50+ requests pending, that's a lot of documentation to scare up and square up. Everyone from Goldman Sachs (which has already been subpoenaed) on down is watching the securities regulator closely while spouting holier than thous about how they would never even dream of making a trade without the iron-clad laws of SCIENCE to validate the move!

--MDT

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7/13/2008
BAWAG Trial Sees Nine Sentenced on Charges Stemming from Billions in REFCO-Related Losses
Those sentenced notably include former BAWAG CEO, the former hedge fund manager who made the epically ill-advised trades (those Yen derivatives can be a bitch), a former finance chief for an Austrian union and a KPMG auditor.

--MDT

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7/02/2008
Sam Israel's (Kinda Pathetic) Camground Hide-out
As white collar fugitive bolt-holes go, this is so, soooo weak. Rolling into the police station on a Yamaha scooter because his mama told him to? Seriously? This is our $2 trillion arch criminal mastermind?

I am so deflated.

-- MDT

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6/17/2008
Sam Israel, Undead Fugitive
The Feds seem all but certain that the Bayou hedge fund founder's suicide was mere window dressing to a disappearing act.

I must confess... I love it when they run. As to why he'd run? If you need a reminder, try Bloomberg. Something to do with starting a 20 year prison sentence, I'd think.

-- MDT

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5/07/2008
P.O. Box Hedge Fund Crumbles
Please stop giving these people your money.
Seriously...

-- MDT

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5/06/2008
SEC Puts the Kibosh on San Diego Hedge Fund Manager
Plus Money is not exactly a name that would inspire me to invest millions. Sounds like a shady payday loan company and shady it definitely is. The SEC has jumped on Plus Money proprietor, Matthew La Madrid freezing his assets while they sort through his $30 million dollar hedge fund investment fraud.

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2 Comments.
Anonymous Anonymoussaid...
Maybe you should try and get all your facts straight,,,before you start accusing people, you PITOHEAD..
Is that you Matthew? And how did you know my wife's pet name for me?

I always assumed it meant something nice, although my Spanish isn't quite as good as hers (or yours, it seems).

Frankly, if you have "facts" you are welcome to post them here. Or better yet, send them along to the SEC. They're the folks investigating.

And Plus Money is still a bad name for a hedge fund.

-- MDT
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4/20/2008
FBI Directory Says Sub-Prime Investigation Leads to Hedge Fund Doors
FBI director Muller's comments, made the annual American Bar Association Litigation Section conference in Washington, D.C. are sure to ruffle features in some quarters. Like say, BloggingStocks, for one.

-- MDT

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4/15/2008
Disgraced Bayou Hedge Fund Boss Gets 20 Years
Sam Israel presided over the spectacular $40 million flame-out of the now defunct hedge fund, Bayou Group. Bayou was the hedge fund fraud and failure that really put the subject on the front page - not just the business pages. This week Israel got his comeuppance - a sentence of 20 years and an order to forfeit $300 million to compensate his former investors for their losses.

Now if Israel had that kind of money at hand, doubtless Bayou would still be in business, so who knows whether those bilked by Bayou have any realistic chance of reclaiming their money. Still, the knowledge that Israel (and his previously convicted Bayou co-horts) will be spending a significant number of years behind bars might provide some small solace.

Or not...

-- MDT

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4/13/2008
SEC Sues Headstart Advisors
Between 1998 and 2003, through late trading and deceptive market timing, UK-based Headstart Advisors netted illict profits totalling $198 million according to a recently filed SEC suit. Also named in the suit was Najy Nasser, chief investment adviser for Headstart during the time of the bad acts.

-- MDT

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Blogger Adrian Flooksaid...
To bring you all up to date, her eis a release put out by Headstart last week.....


Press Release: for immediate distribution

Headstart settles 2003 dispute with the SEC

London – 29 June 2009: Headstart Fund Ltd, Headstart Advisers Ltd, an FSA-regulated hedge fund adviser and Mr Najy Nasser, its Chief Investment Officer, today announces they have settled their dispute with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission relating to Headstart’s historic involvement in market-timing from which it disengaged in September 2003 prior to re-focusing on its other trading strategies. This will allow Headstart to concentrate on its core business as an investment adviser to offshore hedge funds and expand the business with the launch of new funds.

Without admitting or denying the allegations, the civil settlement includes payments of $17 million by the defunct Headstart Fund Ltd (domiciled in the Bahamas), $200,000 by Headstart Advisers Ltd and $600,000 by Mr Najy Nasser, the Chief Investment Officer. This settlement will conclude the case brought by the SEC against Headstart Fund Ltd, Headstart Advisers Ltd and Mr Najy Nasser arising from Headstart’s historic market-timing strategy.

Headstart has since September 2003 focused its business on other successful strategies. The Headstart Fund of Funds has returned 65% (or 5.4% average annual net return) since its inception in 1999, whereas most European and US equity markets are down over the same period.

Najy Nasser, Chief Investment Officer of Headstart Advisers Ltd said:

“Headstart is very pleased to have reached a settlement. We responded to US concerns about market timing and immediately ceased this element of Headstart’s business in September 2003. We have since worked hard to build up Headstart’s funds using different strategies. As we equalled or bettered our overall returns against our benchmark, we are especially pleased with what we have achieved.

“We have superb long-term performance against both the market and our peer group and have some interesting plans to grow Headstart’s investment business.”
ENDS

For further information:
M:Communications
Adrian Flook +44 (0)20 7153 1588 / (0)7768 608396 / flook@mcomgroup.com
Caroline Villiers +44 (0)20 7153 1521 / (0)7808 585184 / villiers@mcomgroup.com

Notes to editors:
About Headstart
Headstart Advisers Ltd is a financial services company incorporated in 1990, authorised and regulated by the FSA as an investment adviser to the Headstart family of hedge funds. It advises three hedge funds and a fund of hedge funds with the common mandate of superior returns with lower volatility (risk).

Its two multi-strategy hedge funds, Headstart Global Fund and Headstart Global Aggressive Fund, have respectively made an average annualised return of 7.8% and 12% over the last 10 years.
/continued…
Headstart Fund of Funds, the firm’s flagship fund of hedge funds, also has a good long-term track record and has made an average annualised return of 5.4% over the last 9 years. The firm launched the Limestone Fund Wider Russia SP strategy in 2007 after advising on the emerging market strategy within a multi-strategy mandate for over 18 months. The Limestone Fund has returned 103% year-to-date. The firm has plans to launch other investment strategies as opportunities arise.

The directors of Headstart Advisers Ltd are Najy Nasser and Henry Watkinson. The firm has its office in Chelsea Harbour, London.


For further information on market timing please see the FSA website: http://www.fsa.gov.uk/Pages/Library/Communication/PR/2004/024.shtml
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4/09/2008
Outlook Not Rosey for Hedge Funds, More Will Go Boom
That seems to be the consensus coming out of this week's Reuters Hedge Fund and Private Equity Fund Summit in New York.

-- MDT

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4/03/2008
Hermitage Capital Head Talks Russian Corruption
Really interesting stuff here from Bill Browder of hedge fund, Hermitage Capital Management. Hermitage, which has invested heavily in Russia but is not terribly popular because of its activist approach, has found itself beset with all manner of dirty gamesmanship. Browder himself has been charged with tax evasion, a charge he disputes, and has been barred from even entering Russia since 2006.

-- MDT

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