Independent – A new EU directive aimed at tightening up the regulation of hedge funds could be counter-productive and cause a mass exodus of business from the International Financial Services Centre, a Dail committee was told yesterday.

The directive, being prepared under the supervision of EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevey, has run into opposition from almost every EU country and is unlikely to be finalised before the end of the current Swedish presidency, the Dail Committee on European Scrutiny was told yesterday.

The draft Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive has been the subject of submissions from every EU member state, Colm Breslin of the Department of Finance told the committee.

Read Complete Article

Tags: alternative investment, dail, department-of-finance, financial services centre, hedge funds, international financial services, investment fund managers, mass exodus, member state, opposition, scrutiny, submissions, supervision, swedish presidency

KWCH.com – A prominent New York law firm is expected to seek bankruptcy protection.

That’s according to a receiver appointed to run the firm — which has been scandalized by charges that its founder was behind a massive fraud.

The receiver also predicted that the founder — Marc Dreier — will soon seek bankruptcy protection as well.

Dreier was jailed last week after being charged in a criminal complaint and by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the alleged sale of fraudulent promissory notes.

He’s accused of an elaborate charade aimed at convincing three hedge funds that the investments were real.

Prosecutors have estimated total loses could top $380 million.

Read Complete Article

Tags: bankruptcy-code, chief-financial-officer, department-of-finance, longstanding-leader, new-marketplace, news-press, pitta, proceeds

West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net)- Kirk Wright’s Atlanta-based hedge fund company, International Management Associates, was found to be fraudlent leading to the conviction of the manager, Wright, as the Department of Justice unsealed a March 10 criminal complaint against him.

"The complaint alleges a fraud involving $150 million to $180 million in missing investor assets managed by Wright’s funds, International Management Associates and International Management Associates Advisory Group," said U.S. Attorney David Nahmias in a statement.

The federal complaint charges mail fraud, executed by mailing a set of false asset statements to IMA investor Stephen Atwater. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on conviction.

According to authorities, Wright and his company collected more than $150 million spread across thousands of client accounts since 1997 and used false statements and documents to mislead some of them to believe the value of those investments was increasing.

Sentencing is set for August 26.

Alex Akesson

Editor for HedgeCo.Net
Email: alex@hedgeco.net

HedgeCo.Net is a premier hedge fund database and community for qualified and accredited investors only. Membership on www.hedgeco.net is FREE and EASY. We also offer FREE LISTINGS for Hedge Funds!
Be sure to check out our sister sites. For more information, visit www.hedgeconetworks.com

Tags: accounting-firm, boston, brokerages, david-nahmias, department-of-finance, director-john, due-diligence-service, hauser, luxury-cars, mail, national-football-league, prison-term, real-estate-investment-trusts, reversals