WaMu Shareholders’ Committee Is Investigating David Tepper’s Appaloosa (Opalesque)
WaMu’s shareholders’ committee are investigating four hedge funds, including Aurelius Capital, Appaloosa Management, Centerbridge Partners and Owl Creek Management, of allegedly engaging in insider trading that led to the collapse and the filing of a $7bn Chapter 11 plan without a deal, by WaMu. The committee has already questions Aurelius Managing Director Dan Groper in May, but is again seeking to depose representatives from the three other hedge funds involved. Meanwhile, a group of WaMu creditors, like Black Horse Capital, wants to join the investigation to identify if the four hedge funds indeed used confidential information to trade in the debt of the bankrupt company.
Hedge fund bosses cautious ahead of Monaco summit (Reuters)
European hedge funds’ top executives will be in cautious mood this week as they gather in Monaco for their annual summit, after big losses in May took some of the shine off a year of inflows and strong returns. Bosses such as Man Group CEO Peter Clarke, whose firm is finally enjoying clients inflows, Centaurus chairman Bernard Oppetit and commodity manager Armajaro’s co-founder Anthony Ward will discuss how to get the industry back on track. Hedge funds lost 1.2 percent in last month’s commodities rout with big-name funds such as Aspect Capital’s Diversified fund and Crispin Odey’s European fund losing more while many funds, wary of further losses, are keeping their bets small.
Ex-FrontPoint Hedge Fund Manager Skowron in Talks Over U.S. Fraud Charges (Bloomberg)
Chip Skowron, the ex-FrontPoint Partners LLC hedge-fund manager charged as part of a nationwide insider trading crackdown, is in talks with federal prosecutors that may involve plea negotiations, according to court filings. Skowron was charged in April by the office of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan with conspiracy, securities fraud and obstruction. He was also sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Prosecutors claimed he obtained nonpublic information from Dr. Yves Benhamou, an expert in hepatitis drugs and a former adviser for Human Genome Sciences Inc.
Armajaro co-founder defends cocoa investments (HFMWeek)
Anthony Ward, co-founder of giant commodities hedge fund manager Armajaro, publicly defended his company’s impact on food prices in Monaco today, saying he hoped any new regulation resulting from G20 meetings would be meaningless. …He was speaking in a discussion on hedge fund blueprints in the modern era alongside fellow industry heavyweights Daniel Shapiro and Oscar Schafer. Bernard Oppetit of Centauras Capital said there had been “regulatory overkill,” adding he doubted “any person on the planet” had read the full text of Dodd-Frank.
