If you were thinking the recent spate of Ponzi schemes has convinced investors to do a bit more due diligence before handing over their cash, think again: A group of a dozen hedge funds have filed a lawsuit against a California businessman named Todd Ault, who they accuse of taking the $4.2 million they gave him for a…
Maybe he should have stuck with hockey. Tim Barakett, the founder of Atticus Capital and possibly the only hedge funder in history to turn down an opportunity to play professional hockey to go Harvard Business School, announced today that he's shutting down his flagship fund and handing $3 billion back to his…
Last week, we pointed your attention to a story in the Post about the very unusual Jeff Koons sculpture that hedge fund mogul Richard Perry and his wife Lisa put out on their penthouse terrace. We mentioned that Vogue had published a set of photos inside the Perry pad a few years ago. Now the magazine tells us they've…
Hedge fund manager Richard Perry and his fashion-designer wife, Lisa Perry, live in a 17-room penthouse on Sutton Place. They're also big-time modern art collectors and home design obsessives. (Their Manhattan apartment earned a 10-page spread in Vogue a few years ago; in the Hamptons, they may own the only house…
As the public focuses on the lucky bankers at Goldman Sachs who are on track to make more money than ever this year, let's not forget about hedge fund managers. They're doing pretty well, too, you know! According to a new report by Hedge Fund Research, the average fund was up more than nine percent during the quarter,…
You may still be dealing with the nasty effects of the economic downturn, but the pain and misery appears to be over for the hedge funders who were forced to momentarily put off plans to buy a new jet or private Caribbean island earlier this year. The Post reports the first six months of 2009 were very good for the…
It hasn't been a fun ride for hedge fund manager Phil Falcone since he picked up 20 percent of the New York Times Co. a couple of years ago. He had to face off against the ruling Sulzberger clan for representation on the board of directors and the company's plunging stock price means his investment in the paper is…
Back before Bernie Madoff came along and hogged the spotlight, there was Samuel Israel, the hedge fund founder who ripped off investors to the tune of $450 million, got caught, tried to fake his own death, failed, turned himself in, and was ultimately sentenced to 20 years in prison for his crimes. His legal ordeal…
William von Mueffling, the hedge funder who left Lazard in 2003 to found Cantillon Capital Management—and who had quite the run during the boom days, taking home $250-300 million in 2007—is shutting down his funds due to "ongoing turmoil in the markets," according to the Journal. Expect slightly uncomfortable…
"Investors say they are getting more promotional material from hedge funds than ever before, as funds seek to replenish assets withdrawn or lost because of negative performance during the financial crisis." Does this mean you may find Dan Loeb shoving a flyer under your door in the near future? Not necessarily. But…
Meet Glen Whitney. The 40-year-old Long Island native made a fortune working at a hedge fund, but he quit his job recently so he could pursue a dream he's been nursing for years. (Although the article doesn't indicate where he worked, it was Jim Simons's nerd-factory, Renaissance Technologies.) Whitney's…
Hedge fund mogul Phil Falcone hasn't had the easiest stretch as of late. The $500 million he plunked down for a 19 percent stake in the New York Times? The value of his shares have plummeted by nearly two-thirds over the past few months as the paper has struggled to remain solvent. And his recent efforts to dominate…
The real estate market in hedge fund-heavy Greenwich continues to disappoint: Sales were down nearly 70 percent during the first quarter of 2009 compared with the same time period a year earlier, and the average sale price plummeted 23 percent. The good news? Greenwich-based hedge funds like Steve Cohen's SAC…
Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman lost his high-profile proxy contest with Target last week, a defeat that reportedly led him to shed a tear or two when he spoke at the company's annual shareholders meeting. It was Ackman's decision to invoke the words of John F. Kennedy, though, that really ticked off New York Times…
More than 1,000 hedge fund managers gathered at Lincoln Center today for the Ira W. Sohn Investment Research Conference, an event that raises money for charity as well as gives other members of the industry a chance to gleam investment recommendations from some of the brightest financial geniuses around. (Those who…
Wall Street looks nothing like it did a year ago, of course, but here's a sign that things may be even more desperate than previously imagined: Some hedge funders are offering to work for free. Why would people accustomed to earning seven-figure annual incomes in the past stoop to this? For one thing, lying to your…
Reports surfaced recently that media mogul David Geffen had expressed an interest in buying a piece of the New York Times. As the story goes, Geffen had offered to buy Harbinger Capital Partners' 20 percent stake in the paper; but Harbinger, the hedge fund operated by Phil Falcone, had rejected the overture because…
The Robin Hood Foundation's spring fundraiser took place last night at the Jacob Javitz Convention Center and some 3,200 people turned up to munch on grilled shrimp and chicken Milanese, mingle with the likes of Oprah and Anne Hathaway, and open their wallets and give to the non-profit that funnels millions of…
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Time magazine celebrated the release of its "100 most influential" list last night, a gathering that attracted plenty of rich finance-y types a year ago, back when saying you worked at a hedge fund or investment bank didn't have the reputational value of saying you spent your day…
It's a good thing hedge fund manager Dan Loeb sold off his carriage house a couple of months ago and is now renting out his jet on an hourly basis. Despite some peppiness on his part, these are clearly tough times for the notoriously temperamental hedge funder. According to his most recent letter to investors,…
