15/12/2011 Author: Will Wainewright

HFMWeek Daily Snapshot - 15 December

NEWSPAPERS AND WIRES
A Venezuelan accountant was sentenced to 14 months in prison for his role in trying to hinder a probe into a Connecticut hedge fund manager accused of conducting a Ponzi scheme, writes Bloomberg. Juan Carlos Guillen Zerpa was sentenced today in federal court in Bridgeport, Connecticut, for lying to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, according to Tom Carson, spokesman for US Attorney David Fein in New Haven.

An Indiana hedge fund manager agreed to plead guilty to defrauding investors of more than $7m, according to FINAlternatives. Samex Partners founder Keenan Hauke struck a plea deal with federal prosecutors, agreeing to plead guilty to one count of securities fraud in exchange for a recommended prison sentence of no more than 17 years. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 25 years. Hauke’s plea deal still requires a judge’s approval.

Boaz Weinstein, the founder of the hedge fund Saba Capital, was inspired to get involved with the Natan Fund after attending a "salon" the organization was throwing, writes the Wall Street Journal. "I was very impressed with the speakers," Weinstein explained. Several years later, Weinstein is an active board member at Natan, a philanthropic network that supports start-ups and other entrepreneurial organizations "demonstrating an innovative approach to addressing the challenges facing the Jewish people," said Felicia Herman, executive director of Natan.

James Simons, the founder of hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, and his wife are donating $150m to New York's Stony Brook University, according to a statement from the school, writes Bloomberg. The university and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo are scheduled to announce the gift, the largest in the history of the State University of New York, tomorrow at its campus on Long Island, both said in statements today.

LAUNCHES AND CLOSURES
Monsoon Capital, the Asia-focused investment firm worth around $330m, is launching a Cayman-domiciled version of its systematic strategy next month in what is believed to be the first case of a hedge fund setting up an offshore model of an existing Ucits product. Founder Gautam Prakash told HFMWeek that the firm is launching the fund because “there is a sort of investor that doesn’t want Ucits, like Asian and tax-exempt US investors”.

James Caird Asset Management, the London-based firm run by former Moore Capital Management trader Tim Leslie, plans to liquidate a $1.6bn credit hedge fund after eight years, reports Bloomberg. “I have been frustrated by our performance during the current year,” Leslie wrote today in a client letter, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg News. He said he plans to start giving money back to investors in the JCAM Global Fund in January.