Lord Turner, outgoing chairman of the Financial Services Authority, has found a new job as a ‘blue-sky’ thinker at a research group set up by billionaire financier George Soros. Turner lost out in the recent race to become Governor of the Bank of England to Canadian Mark Carney. Some City insiders have raised eyebrows at his move to a think tank set up by the man who famously ‘broke the Bank of England’ during the exchange rate crisis of 1992. Hedge fund investor Soros bet against the pound during the crisis and was seen as instrumental in helping to drive sterling out of the Exchange Rate Mechanism – a precursor to the single currency.
Oklahoma Police pension fund branches out into White Elm Capital hedge fund (Pensions & Investments)
Funding comes from the redemption of an Attalus Capital hedge fund of funds as part of the $1.9 billion pension fund’s move into direct investing in hedge funds. Grosvenor Capital Management and investment consultant Asset Consulting Group recommended White Elm, Mr. Snyder said in a telephone interview.
Dallas Fed. Judge: SEC May Proceed Against Cuban (AllAboutAlpha)
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas (Dallas) has ruled against Mark Cuban’s motion for summary judgment, allowing a high-profile insider-trading action to continue. I feel for Cuban: nobody needs the aggravation of fighting charges like this. But … the case has already helped mark some important boundaries, so other participants in the markets today ought to be in some sense satisfied that it will continue.
SAC Capital’s hedge fund manager arrested for insider trading ‘after trying to evade authorities by hiding out in various NYC hotels’(Daily Mail)
Michael Steinberg, a portfolio manager at Steven A. Cohen’s $15 billion hedge fund, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation at his home in New York City early on Friday morning in connection with a long-running insider-trading investigation, an FBI spokesman said. Steinberg later pleaded not guilty in federal court on charges that he traded shares of Dell Inc on insider information, sources close to the matter said on Thursday. He was released on a $3 million bail.
Argentina ‘Greek Tragedy’ Nears End as Debt Ruling Looms (Bloomberg)
Argentina may learn at any time whether a U.S. appeals court will rule that it must pay $1.4 billion to holders of its defaulted debt, something the South American country has resisted for more than a decade. Argentina’s proposal largely ignored previous U.S. court rulings and instead offered the type of restructuring deal that has been rejected by holdout bondholders led by billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer and his Elliott Management Corp. unit NML Capital Ltd. The proposal sets up a possible collision between Argentine politicians and U.S. judges that has been a decade in the making.
Hedge-Fund Billionaire Steve Cohen Had a Week of YOLO (New York Magazine)
For Steve Cohen, the art-collecting billionaire who runs mega-hedge-fund SAC Capital, every week brings some fresh ups and downs. That’s the nature of being a rich, eccentric trader whose fortunes ebb and flow with the markets. But this week, after agreeing to settle with the SEC and pay a roughly $600 million fine for insider-trading allegations, Cohen’s topsy-turvy life got kicked into overdrive. If you’re anyone else on the planet, a huge, record-breaking insider trading fine paid out of your own pocket is reason to put your head down and stay out of the spotlight. If you’re Steve Cohen, it’s a chance to perk up, spend some dough, and show the world your YOLO spirit is still intact.
Emails Show Ex-Deutsche Trader Lippmann Wanted Lehman Derivatives (The Wall Street Journal)
Former Deutsche Bank AG (USA) (NYSE:DB) star trader Greg Lippmann considered taking on some of Lehman Brothers’ derivatives positions in the days following the investment bank’s September 2008 collapse, a deal that could have been worth more than $500 million to the investment bank’s creditors, according to newly released emails. Lippmann, who made more than $1 billion for the German bank when he bet against subprime mortgage debt during the housing bubble, wanted to “step into” the in-the-money credit default swaps of Lehman Brothers Specialty Finance, the heart of Lehman’s derivatives operations.
Biz whiz: Bettor up! (New York Post)
Joe Peta, a former hedge-f und trader, is the author of a new book, “Trading Bases: A Story About Wall Street, Gambling, and Baseball” (Dutton). Here he explains why his new job, wagering on baseball, may be a better bet than buying stocks.
