Each business day HedgeCo.Net keeps you informed with the top hedge fund industry news, opinion and insight from around the globe. From the latest hedge fund launches, to the impact of regulation, competition, and investor activism - we track the topics and people that make a difference to you.
Alibaba News Channel – Investors generally put aside recent worries about the world economy and banking industry woes on Thursday, sending global stocks higher and reversing safety flows into the Japanese yen.
Mixed earnings plagued European markets, however, with Credit Suisse posting better-than-expected profits and engineering group ABB missing forecasts and giving a cautious outlook.
Euro zone purchasing managers provided the latest "green shoots" data to suggest some economic recovery. They signalled stabilisation in their sectors but also record job losses.
CNNMoney.com - Railroad CSX Corp. said Wednesday it has settled a case of alleged securities law violations with two activist shareholder hedge funds.
If the settlement is approved by a federal court, CSX will receive $10 million from TCI, which manages The Children’s Master Investment Fund, and $1 million from 3G Capital Management.
The case, brought by a CSX shareholder, accused the hedge funds of collecting "short-swing" profits, or using insider information to nab a short-term gain. But under the settlement, the hedge funds deny any wrongdoing.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – SEC officials did not botch an investigation into alleged insider trading by hedge fund Pequot Capital Management, at least according to the SEC.
Brenda P. Murray, an administrative law judge for the Securities and Exchange Commission, concluded that no disciplinary action should be taken against two of the officials originally accused.
The 15-page report compiled by Murray goes against the original findings of both the SEC’s Inspector General H. David Kotz and Senate investigators who were put on the case.
Last month, Kotz compiled his own report and recommended the agency take disciplinary action against Director of Enforcement Linda Thomsen, Assistant Director of Enforcement Mark Kreitman and Robert Hanson, Supervisor of SEC lawyer Gary Aguirre.
Kotz said he found evidence that “raised serious questions about the impartiality and fairness” of the SEC investigation. He went on to say how the SEC treated the hedge fund differently than other investigations and perhaps gave them special treatment.
Murray’s findings were in stark opposition with Kotz’s, clearing both Thomsen and Hanson from any wrongdoing.
“We were surprised and disappointed by the administrative judge’s decisions,” said Kotz. “We also have serious concerns about the process utilized in arriving at these decisions.”
Other concerns that have come to the table draw on the fact that Murray was acting outside of her jurisdiction, along with the fact that there might be a conflict of interest considering she is in fact employed by the SEC.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
Law.com – Smith, Gambrell & Russell and one of its former attorneys are caught up in the expensive brouhaha surrounding International Management Associates, a now-defunct investment firm which bilked pro football players, a former Scientific-Atlanta CEO and other well-heeled investors of some $150 million.
IMA’s bankruptcy trustee, William F. Perkins, told a federal court last month that the law firm and a former counsel from its Washington, D.C., office, C. Gladwyn Goins, represented IMA so poorly that they not only allowed the company’s founder, Kirk S. Wright, to embezzle from investors long after his wrongdoing could have been discovered but also "helped Wright to continue his criminal misconduct."
Those alleged legal missteps cost the company "tens of millions" of dollars, according to the complaint, which demands that the firm and its former counsel pay more than $80 million in damages, plus attorney fees and litigation costs.
