Few politicians take risks with their campaign money, but Andrew Cuomo, the democratic candidate for attorney general, did, and it paid of for him, The New York Times reports.
Two years ago, Cuomo put half of his campaign treasury, $750,000, in the EnTrust Capital Partners hedge fund, and he has seen a return of nearly 20% after one year.
The majority of campaigns focus on short-term needs and keep their money in conservative vehicles, such as savings accounts.
However, investing campaign money in hedge funds may present some regulatory concerns. Hedge funds are surrounded by secrecy, and it would be hard to say whether a high return reflects a smart bet or a campaign supporter’s efforts to evade contribution limits by padding the return of a favored campaign account, government watchdogs say.
Wendy Katz, a spokeswoman for the campaign, said, “The rationale for investing campaign funds in a hedge fund is the same rationale employed by nonprofits, universities (for example,
There are no city, state or federal election laws or regulations that prevent candidates from investing campaign money with hedge funds or other speculative vehicles, according to regulatory agencies.
The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.
