Reuters – U.S. hedge funds and private equity firms told Congress on Tuesday that all advisers to private pools of capital should be subjected to the same level of federal scrutiny, including those managing venture capital funds.

A draft U.S. bill would require advisers of hedge funds and private equity funds to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission, thus forcing more disclosures to regulators and investors.

However, the draft House of Representatives bill exempts venture capital funds from mandatory registration with the regulator.

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Tags: hedge funds, private equity firms, private pools, private-equity-funds, venture capital firms, venture capital funds

Politico – Schumer, No. 3 in the Senate Democratic leadership and the former chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, has offered scads of proposals that the industry doesn’t like on issues from corporate governance to derivatives to the creation of a new consumer watchdog for the financial world.

But his top donors include insurance company New York Life Insurance, private equity firm Lightyear Capital, futures clearinghouse MBF Clearing Corp. and real estate companies Rudin Management and Related Companies.

Quite a few financial insiders express frustration with Schumer, feeling he’s thrown the industry under the bus now that it’s politically popular to do so — after having collected mountains of cash from the industry to help the Democrats build their 60-vote majority in the Senate.

The hedge funds and private equity firms included in that giving also see him as something of a champion for them. Private equity, hedge funds, and venture capital firms gave him more than $707,100 during the 2010 cycle, nearly double what the industry has donated to any other member. Their support can be traced back to a 2007 battle over the “carried interest” bill that would have more than doubled the taxes paid by investment managers.

The legislation passed the House, but momentum petered out in the Senate — a victory some financial services lobbyists attribute to Schumer.

Tags: equity hedge, hedge funds, investment managers, private equity firm, private equity firms, venture capital firms