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.
The London Free Press – A hedge-fund swindler who faked his own death in an effort to skip out on a 20-year prison term was sentenced yesterday to two extra years.
Federal Judge Kenneth Karas said Samuel Israel III was "thumbing his nose at the system" when he staged a suicide and jumped bail last year rather than do time for taking hundreds of millions from investors in his Stamford, Conn.-based Bayou hedge funds.
Chicago Tribune – The judge who is sentencing hedge-fund swindler Samuel Israel III for skipping out on prison may want to make an example of him.
Israel admitted in March that he faked his suicide and jumped bail last year rather than begin a 20-year sentence for bilking investors in his Stamford, Conn.-based Bayou funds.
He finally surrendered to police in Southwick, Mass.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – The Connecticut-based hedge fund manager who had his assets frozen by the SEC last month, Francesco Rusciano, was released to the custody of his parents on a $500,000 bond after a federal court hearing.
According to the SEC’s complaint, Francesco Rusciano solicited investments for two hedge funds, Ponta Negra Fund I, LLC and Ponta Negra Offshore Fund I, LTD, which is the principal of Ponta Negra Group, LLC, located at his residence in Stamford, Conn.
The hedge fund manager also sent out an e-mail to investors saying that his Ponta Negra hedge funds had $59 million in assets under management as of February 2009. According to the SEC’s complaint, the hedge funds had less than $10 million.
The SEC says that Rusciano forged brokerage account statements to make it appear that another hedge fund account had more than $43 million in assets, when it had less than $3 million.
"Rusciano went to great lengths to deceive investors, and the SEC is committed to ensuring that money managers who provide inaccurate information to investors and fail to uphold their fiduciary duties are held responsible for their misconduct," said Rose Romero, Director of the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office.
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – The SEC has frozen the assets of a Connecticut-based hedge fund manager, alleging that he forged documents, promised false returns, and misrepresented assets managed by the funds to illicitly raise more than $30 million from investors.
According to the SEC’s complaint, Francesco Rusciano solicited investments for two hedge funds he controls, Ponta Negra Fund I, LLC and Ponta Negra Offshore Fund I, LTD, which is the principal of Ponta Negra Group, LLC, located at his residence in Stamford, Conn.
The hedge fund manager also sent out an e-mail to investors saying that his Ponta Negra hedge funds had $59 million in assets under management as of February 2009. According to the SEC’s complaint, the hedge funds had less than $10 million.
The SEC says that Rusciano forged brokerage account statements to make it appear that another hedge fund account had more than $43 million in assets, when it had less than $3 million.
"Rusciano went to great lengths to deceive investors, and the SEC is committed to ensuring that money managers who provide inaccurate information to investors and fail to uphold their fiduciary duties are held responsible for their misconduct," said Rose Romero, Director of the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office.
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!
Times Online – Every week at least one British hedge fund is considering winding up its funds as catastrophic investment performance puts the sector under unprecedented pressure, an industry expert said yesterday.
Andrew Shrimpton, the former head of hedge fund regulation at the Financial Services Authority who now runs Kinetic, a consultancy, said: “The credit crisis is definitely kicking in for the hedge fund industry now. We are being approached by hedge funds considering voluntary fund liquidations on a weekly basis.”
His remarks came as CQS, one of London’s best-known hedge funds, wrote to its investors to say that its flagship $4.25billion CQS Fund had fallen 9.42 per cent for the year to date. Michael Hintze, its chief executive and senior investment officer, told investors that senior management at CQS were meeting as often as three times a day to monitor the fund and take action over its exposures where necessary. The fund, which specialises in convertible arbitrage – or small price differentials between bonds and underlying equities – is down more than 11 per cent for the year.
