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.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Marcus Schrenker, the pilot turned money manager accused of faking his own death to avoid fraud charges, was transferred from a Tallahassee hospital to a Pensacola jail on Monday.
Schrenker, 38, purposely crashed his single-engine Piper in Florida last week, hoping authorities would confirm his death upon finding the wreckage. Meanwhile, he parachuted over Alabama before the plane started to go down. He was later found at a camp site after reportedly trying to commit suicide.
Schrenker was charged with fraud in Indiana where he allegedly bilked trusting investors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars through his company, Heritage Wealth Management. He also faces federal charges of purposely crashing his plane and placing a false distress call.
Authorities were tipped off when they realized that his distress call did not match up with the scenario. Schrenker had radioed that his plane had suffered a cracked windshield before imploding and causing him severe injury. However, when two rescue helicopters were dispatched along with two fighter jets, they saw that the windshield was not only intact, but the door was open with the pilot clearly missing.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
TheStreet.com – Two contemporaries rushed to the defense of hedge fund manager Ezra Merkin, who is reportedly being investigated by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo after his investors lost billions of dollars linked to disgraced money manager Bernard Madoff.
William Ackman, who manages Pershing Square Capital, and Michael Steinhardt of Steinhardt, Fine, Berkowitz & Co. both called Merkin, a partner at hedge funds Cerberus Capital, Gabriel Capital and Ascott Partners, an "honest" man at a panel discussion of Madoff Thursday night at the Yivo Institute for Jewish Research.
"I’ve known him for 15 years," Ackman said. "I think he’s an honest person, an intelligent person, an interesting person, a smart investor. People don’t want to hear that because if you invested with Ascot you lost all your money."
Globe Gazette – Kevin Bacon and wife Kyra Sedgwick are among the many victims of the massive Ponzi scheme run by the disgraced New York money manager.
Bacon’s publicist, Allen Eichhorn, confirmed Tuesday that the couple had investments with Madoff. He wouldn’t say how much money Bacon, whose most recent film is “Frost/Nixon,” and “The Closer” star Sedgwick might have lost.
Madoff told federal investigators that his investment business was “a lie” that lost as much as $50 billion.
Other Hollywood victims have included a charity linked to director Steven Spielberg and his DreamWorks partner Jeffrey Katzenberg, and screenwriter Eric Roth, whose credits include “Forrest Gump” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”
Grand Forks Herald – From worrying about banks and a financial meltdown, investors are now wondering if they can trust the person investing their money.
In this year of shocks, investors were dealt another a little over a week ago. Someone considered one of the nation’s elite money managers, Bernard Madoff, reportedly confessed that he misled investors for years about the money they were making.
The $50 billion firm collapsed, allegedly wiping out funds of supposedly savvy investors – multimillionaires, colleges, foundations, brokerage firms and hedge funds. The clients, many of whom had done social gymnastics to get into his fund, may have nothing.
The situation serves as a reminder that investors need: Don’t take on a broker, adviser, money manager or hedge fund without thorough checking.
