Peleton Crash Into a Hedge
Posted on March 7, 2008
Filed Under Investing |
I have to confess that this week I have allowed myself a frisson of Schadenfreude when I read about the problems besetting the hedge fund, Peleton Partners. For those you who unware of the term it is translated in the Harper Collins German-English dictionary as “malicious glee or gloating”.
Peleton Partners a $3bn (£1.5bn) hedge fund run by former Goldman Sachs star traders has been forced to liquidate its two investment funds when they could no longer meet margin calls from the investment banks, despite one of their funds being last year’s best performers, netting returns of 87%. My glee was not at the investors’ expense, whose only crime was to believe the outrageous claims of companies such as Peleton. No, it was that finally those at the top of the financial food chain are beginning to feel some pain, especially as the majority of returns made by this company were on the backs of those tangled up in the sub prime mortgage debacle. As mentioned before some sub primers have been hit with interest rates of 18% - at a time when the Fed can’t cut rates fast enough.
A further amusing aspect of this particular story is that one of the partners of Peleton, Ron Beller and his wife, Jennifer Moses were victims of Joyti DeLaurey. During their time at Goldman Sachs, Joyti was convicted of stealing £4.3m from this pair (and others) to fund a lavish lifestyle. At Joyti’s trial, Mr Beller famously told the jury that he only began ot suspect a fraud when he discovered his bank account was “one or two million light”!
In the meantime, Jennifer Moses was going to join Prime Minister Gordon Brown, as a special advisor but in the light of her husband’s troubles has decided to pass on his kind invitation.
To lose a few million once may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose a few billion a second time looks like carelessness.
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