Hedge Fund Boss Who Gave £3m to Tories Backs Liz Truss (The Times)
A Conservative donor who has given more than £3 million to the party has become the latest senior businessman to back Liz Truss. Andrew Law, 56, is a hedge fund manager who is helping to finance Truss’s campaign. He said that her pledge to immediately cut about £30 billion in taxes would help to grow the economy. He dismissed criticism of her economic plans as “bonkers”. Law joins a host of other Tory donors who have flocked to Truss after she emerged as the frontrunner in the Conservative leadership race. Truss has comfortably raised enough money to reach the £300,000 spending limit imposed on the two candidates’ leadership campaigns.
Point72’s Steve Cohen Exits Investment in Crypto Firm Radkl (Bloomberg)
Hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen exited his investment in cryptocurrency trading startup Radkl, according to a spokesperson for the digital-asset company. The quantitative crypto trading firm, which was formed last year by New York Stock Exchange market maker GTS, has already lost at least four managing directors this year, including Jim Greco, Allan Erskine, Jason Bell and Beatrice O’Carroll. On Radkl’s website, only five employees are listed including O’Carroll, who confirmed with Bloomberg in a LinkedIn message that she has left the company.
What Drove This Hedge Fund to Crash 84% in Six Months (The Wall Street Journal)
Marcho Partners lost nearly 84% in the year’s first half, when Shopify and other growth stocks fell sharply. Stock-picking hedge funds around the world are hurting amid the market rout. And then there is Marcho Partners a tech-focused fund, founded by a onetime deputy of tech investor Chamath Palihapitiya. The London-based fund, which had over $1 billion in assets under management at its peak, was down nearly 84% through June 30, according to a summary Marcho sent to its investors, marking one of the worst-known performances for a hedge fund so far in 2022.
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Ex-JPMorgan MD Hires Goldman MD into Hedge Fund Tech Role (eFinancialCareers.com)
Mike Grimaldi is still hiring senior people in his new job at Balyasny Asset Management. Grimaldi, who was the head of technology at JPMorgan’s corporate and investment bank between 2017 and 2021, joined hedge fund Balyasny as chief information officer in September 2021. Grimaldi has since added numerous senior technology staff from JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, and just tapped another top technologist from Goldman. – Nick Young, a managing director in Goldman’s New York markets strats group has joined Balyasny as head of macro technology.
Ken Griffin’s Citadel Comes to Brickell — and Supercharges the Market (TheRealDeal.com)
A home in north Coconut Grove sparked a bidding war, even though the house wasn’t built yet. One buyer was paying all cash, and the other was financing his purchase. The seller, a spec home builder, saw an opportunity. The builder raised the price to $4.9 million from $3.8 million, said the listing agent, Compass’ Liz Hogan. The all-cash buyer then made the developer an offer he couldn’t refuse: $3 million on the spot, with another $1.5 million once the house is built, likely next year.
Pinterest Stock Up 12% on Users, Elliott Backing (Yahoo Finance)
Pinterest (PINS) shares soared more than 12% on Tuesday following its quarterly results and support from activist hedge fund Elliott Management for the search-and-discovery platform’s new CEO Bill Ready. “Pinterest occupies a unique position in the advertising and shopping ecosystems, and CEO Bill Ready is the right leader to oversee Pinterest’s next phase of growth,” read a statement by activist investor Elliott Management, the company’s largest shareholder, with a 9% stake.
‘Greed’ or ‘Mistake’? Platinum Hedge Fund Manager’s Trial Kicks Off (Reuters)
(Reuters) – The fraud trial of former Platinum Partners portfolio manager Daniel Small began in Brooklyn on Monday, with a prosecutor telling jurors Small helped scam bondholders in a Platinum portfolio company. Small is the last defendant in the case over now-defunct Platinum Partners, a New York hedge fund that once had around $1.7 billion of assets.
Chipotle Mexican Grill Insider Sold Over $4.64M In Company Stock (Benzinga)
Roger E Theodoredis, and insider at Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), reported a large insider sell on August 1, according to a new SEC filing. What Happened: A Form 4 filing from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday showed that Theodoredis sold 3,031 shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill. The total transaction amounted to $4,643,919. Chipotle Mexican Grill shares are trading down 0.28% at $1552.99 at the time of this writing on Tuesday morning.
Tuesday 8/2 Insider Buying Report: LXRX, BX (Nasdaq.com)
On Monday, Lexicon Pharmaceuticals’ Director, Raymond Debbane, made a $2.46M purchase of LXRX, buying 982,600 shares at a cost of $2.50 each. Lexicon Pharmaceuticals is trading up about 4.4% on the day Tuesday. And on Thursday, Director Reginald J. Brown purchased $307,986 worth of Blackstone, purchasing 3,100 shares at a cost of $99.35 each. Blackstone is trading off about 2.8% on the day Tuesday. So far Brown is in the green, up about 3.0% on their purchase based on today’s trading high of $102.38.
Binance.US Delists Token Amid SEC’s Insider Trading Probe at Coinbase (Financial News)
Binance.US, the US-based arm of crypto exchange Binance, delisted a small cryptocurrency in the wake of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s investigation into insider trading at rival Coinbase. Binance on 1 August said it was delisting the AMP token as of 15 August. The cryptocurrency trades for less than a penny with a market value of less than $400m, according to CoinMarketCap.
Man Arrested For NFT Insider Trading (TechNotification.com)
The government is tightening hard on financial crimes, so beware of web3 businesses. An ex-OpenSea marketing administrator has been detained in New York City as well as prosecuted with wiring theft as well as currency laundering for his role in an intricate insider trading scam using the non-fungible token (NFT). According to a news statement with the Department of Justice, Chastain allegedly bought and sold NFTs for up to fivefold their intended worth using his privileged, private information of which non-fungible token would be displayed on OpenSea’s marketplace.
