Hedge funds

The Securities and Exchange Commission has received an emergency court order to halt a suspected Ponzi scheme targeted to Haitian-American investors.

Susan Markel, chief accountant for the Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement division, will leave the agency in January after 14 years of service to become a managing director in the corporate investigations practice of AlixPartners LLP, a global business advisory firm.

The personal fortunes of the 1,000 wealthiest people in Britain have tumbled by more than 50% in 2008, according to the 2009 Sunday Times Rich List.

A consortium comprised of New York investment firms J.C. Flowers & Co., Dune Capital Management and Paulson & Co. is set to acquire distressed IndyMac Bancorp, according to published reports.

As their revenues decline, hedge funds will spend $882 million on technology in 2009, 40% less than this year, according to TABB Group. But they will not be so quick to reduce spending on front-office trading technology.

GLG Partners, a hedge fund, is acquiring the U.K. fund management arm of Societe Generale. Although terms of the deal were not disclosed, the firms revealed that the unit has $8.2 billion of assets under management.

Former hedge fund Bayou Management executive Samuel Israel III was ordered on Friday to undergo medical and psychological tests at the Devens Federal Medical Center prison in Massachusetts in the last week of December. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas ordered the tests to determine whether Israel is competent to have pled guilty to bail jumping.

Three hundred and forty four hedge funds liquidated in the third quarter, considerably higher than the previous record of 267 in the fourth quarter of 2006, according to Hedge Fund Research.

The U.S. could see a 70% decline in the number of mutual fund families over the next five years unless regulations are changed to put them on a more equal footing with hedge funds, according to a new report by the Boston research firm Celent, titled: “The Global Credit Crisis: Implications for North American Wealth Management.”

Financial industry analysts are anticipating a wave of new regulations to come out of this financial crisis, but with any luck, mutual funds will escape a direct hit.

The Tokyo joint venture between Fortress Investment Group and DKR Capital is laying off an unspecified number of people, Dow Jones reports. However, the office is not shutting down entirely.

Hedge funds returned negative -2.7% in November, bringing their year-to-date decline to 18%, according to the Hennessee Hedge Fund Index, The Wall Street Journal reports. While the decline is painful, it is at least less than the -5.5% loss in October and the double-digit declines in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, the Dow Jones Industrial Index and the Nasdaq.

The unprecedented financial crisis of 2008 has redefined everyone's perception of risk, sending private wealth managers back to the drawing board to make sure clients really understand how risky complicated products can be.

Alex Widmer, CEO of Swiss bank Julius Baer, died unexpectedly Dec. 3 at the age of 52.

For all of the reports on dismal negative 20% declines in hedge funds this year, PerTrac Financial Solutions found that if the net is cast wider, sound performers can, indeed, be found.

Fortress Investment Group became the latest hedge fund Wednesday to tell investors it will temporarily suspend redemptions. In its case, Fortress did not say when they would be honored.

The “perfect storm” of high volatility, withdrawals and liquidity problems that has hit hedge funds will soon subside, Man Group CEO Peter Clarke told the Hedge Fund World Zurich conference, Dow Jones reports. In fact, hedge funds could turn the corner as early as the second quarter of next year, Clarke said.

There was a time that the highflying world of hedge fund managers appeared to stratospherically surpass that of mutual fund managers. After all, some of the top hedge fund managers have averaged annual salaries of $250 million in recent years, with $1 billion paydays not uncommon for top stars.

Rather than honor the $1.4 billion in redemptions, or 14% of the $10 billion flagship hedge fund at Paul Tudor Jones’ asset management firm on Dec. 31, the company will delay making those payments until March 31, 2009, in hopes that the market will improve and assets can be sold for higher values, Dow Jones reports. Normally, the fund honors redemptions once each quarter.

CIBC announced Friday that it has finally settled 2004 charges that former trader Paul Flynn permitted hedge funds to market time mutual funds.