Posted on 06/22/2016 8:05:53 PM PDT by Lorianne
Visium Asset Management, a multibillion dollar hedge fund, has imploded in the biggest scandal to hit the industry in years.
The fund told investors of its plan to close in a letter Friday. It’s the most high-profile shutdown since authorities forced Steve Cohen’s controversial SAC Capital to close in 2013.
A slew of factors — from a brewing insider-trading scandal to a contentious investment by Visium’s founder that rankled investors and staffers alike — led to Visium’s demise.
On top of all of that, Visium’s flagship fund had been reporting dismal performance. Visium is selling one of its better performing funds to AllianceBernstein, it said.
Just days before Visium announced the shut down, one of its top portfolio managers — Sanjay Valvani — was charged with wire and securities fraud. He is accused of using insider information from a Food and Drug Administration Official to place trades on drug companies ahead of key FDA decisions from about 2005 through 2011.
Two other former Visium portfolio managers, Christopher Plaford and Stefan Lumiere, were accused of purposefully miscalculating the price of securities so that they could charge investors inflated fees and mislead them about the fund’s liquidity.
The closure of the firm represents a remarkable turnaround: it managed about $7.8 billion firmwide at the start of the year, a 20% increase from the year before, according to Hedge Fund Intelligence.
The investigations Visium is facing would present a challenge for any firm. In a letter to investors announcing the closure, Jake Gottlieb, the founder of Visium, wrote:
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com.au ...
Mr. Valvani was found dead Monday evening; he apparently slashed his own throat.
crank up the Federal Reserve printing press
Only eight billion? Chicken feed. Obama can make that up out of his vacation fund, no problem. /s
Sanjay was Indian I take it?
Not sorry to see globalists fail Wall Street, however.
They have suffered so little, that Wall Street no longer cares for the USA. They just live here under Palm Trees, or in gated communities with armed security.
He may be of Indian ethnicity, but he is an American, having grown up in Kalamazoo, MI. He went to American colleges: University of Michigan, UNC Chapel Hill, and Duke.
Sounds like that earns him a place on the recently reactivated dead bankers list.
Thanks, Tom.
I thought you were kidding... but it appears to be the case... I wonder if he was involved with the Clintons somehow.
I wonder if the Clinton RICO mafia crime family foundation had anything to do with this...hmmmm
Slashed his own throat, huh?
>http://www.reuters.com/article/us-valvani-death-idUSKCN0Z71PB<
New York hedge fund executive in apparent suicide after insider trading charges: police
The posted story is the 19th.
My citation above is the 21st.
Ping.
That's what the papers say.
NYPD is investigating.
It would appear Mr. Valvani was going to be charged with insider trading, which is a serious crime if you aren't an elected official.
You know, I was gonna be flippant.
But imagine what was going through his soul to do that.
People gotta realize, maybe s**t gets harsh sometimes, but GOD HAS GOT THEM.
And shot himself in the back of the head....twice....
I cannot do that.
His educational record reveals that he didn't exactly operate at the elite level. He started at University of Michigan, than transferred to UNC-CH. The article said he "attended" Duke's Fuqua School of Business. It did not say he was awarded any kind of degree by Duke.
Reading between the lines, I see a guy who probably got what he got the hard way. He was 44 when it all fell apart.
Other sleuthing reveals that he got insider info from the FDA about drug approval matters; he got the info from a person who had left the agency, but who was in contact with a friend who was still on the inside.
How many has that been now?
And more importantly, what is that as a percentage of the population of Wall Street executives and professionals?
A RATE that is many times average would be a useful indicator of the problem.
"Dead Bankers File, Obama Dead Pool"
Sanjay Valvani; Sanjay Valvani, New York hedge fund exec found dead in apparent suicide
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