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
Labels: Bayou Group, Fraud, hedge fund, Hennessee, Kroll, Sam Israel
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
Labels: Backtrack, due diligence, First Advantage, hedge fund, Jules Kroll, Pete Turecek, Randy Shain
2/01/2009
Madoff Mess Brings New Hedge Fund Disclosures
So now we're taking
sort of dingy gray boxes verses black ones.
-- MDT
Labels: Bernie Madoff, hedge fund
12/09/2008
Mark Dreier Does Not Pass Go
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
Labels: Bayou Group, hedge fund, Sam Israel
9/22/2008
They've Always Got to Stick it to The Hedge Funds
8/01/2008
Sam Israel Forced to Give Up His Scooter
7/22/2008
More Charges for Bear Stearns Managers?
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
Labels: GLG, hedge fund, hiring
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
Labels: hedge fund, rumors, SEC, short selling, Wall Street
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
Labels: BAWAG, Fraud, hedge fund, Refco
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
Labels: Bayou Group, fugitive, hedge fund, Sam Israel
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
Labels: Bayou Group, Fraud, fugitive, hedge fund, Sam Israel, suicide
5/07/2008
P.O. Box Hedge Fund Crumbles
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.
Labels: Fraud, hedge fund, Matthew La Madrid, Plus Money
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
Labels: FBI, Fraud, hedge fund, sub-prime mortgage
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
Labels: Bayou Group, Fraud, hedge fund, James Marquez, Sam Israel
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
Labels: Fraud, Headstart Advisors, hedge fund, Najy nasser, SEC
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
Labels: hedge fund
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
Labels: Bill Browder, coruption, hedge fund, Hermitage Capital, Russia