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.
Marketwatch – The IRS last week reached an agreement with the Swiss government and UBS AG that will result in thousands of Americans who thought they had a secret Swiss bank account having their names and account details turned over to U.S. tax authorities.
Former UBS banker Bradley Birkenfeld was sentenced to 40 months incarceration on Friday after he pleaded guilty to defrauding the United States. Birkenfeld admitted to advising U.S. clients to place cash and valuables in Swiss safety deposit boxes, destroy off-shore banking records and file false U.S. income tax returns, among other frauds.
Citywire.co.uk – The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is to probe UK banks for evidence that complex financial products were mis-sold to consumers before the recession hit.
SFO director Richard Alderman plans to investigate the sale of complicated financial instruments like credit default swaps and collateralised debt obligations. The SFO has changed its tactics and will take a more active tack with investigations and will intervene to prevent future frauds, according to a report in The Times.
SFO staff are already investigating Madoff’s UK operations, hedge funds accused of over valuing securities, AIG UK and the collapse of Weavering Capital, according to The Times. The government has also asked its fraud taskforce to examine the collapse of MG Rover in 2005. And the workload is set to grow with the decision to look into the Keydata saga, as reported by Citywire this week.
Law.com – Marc S. Dreier on Wednesday sent a confessional letter to the federal judge who will sentence him on Monday (pdf), describing in remarkable detail how he funded the once-admired expansion of Dreier LLP by committing frauds totaling more than $400 million.
Facing a recommendation from the government that he serve the rest of his life in prison but pleading for a measured sentence, Dreier, 59, said his seven-year downward spiral began with a simple theft from a client settlement fund and ended at the point where "I found myself running a massive Ponzi scheme with no apparent way out."
Dreier’s letter was submitted as defense attorney Gerald L. Shargel and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan R. Streeter sent competing memos to Southern District of New York Judge Jed S. Rakoff taking a dramatically different view of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.
The Columbus Dispatch – The hedge-fund industry, battered and humbled by the market downturn, no longer is planning to fight an increased role for government in regulating and inspecting the secretive investment pools.
Opposition has melted away as the market decline and prominent frauds have shattered the confidence of the pension funds, university endowments, charities and wealthy individuals who invest in the exclusive investment pools.
