Appellate court panel upholds Peconic firing
By Chris ClairWhat’s news around the hedge fund industry for Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2010:
The New York Law Journal reports that an appeals court panel in New York ruled last week that there is no exception to the at-will employment doctrine for the former chief compliance officer at hedge fund Peconic Partners, who sued claiming he was fired for raising questions about trading practices at the firm. Joseph W. Sullivan had argued that he was wrongfully fired in 2008 after he “whether the company’s president, William F. Harnisch, had violated Peconic and Securities and Exchange Commission rules by trading a security he owned before selling the same security he held for his clients, resulting in client losses of $6.7 million,” according to the NY Law Journal.
Sullivan’s wrongful termination claim had been upheld at the state supreme court level. His lawyer, Daniel M. Felber, told the Law Journal he planned to appeal the appellate court panel’s decision. The case is Sullivan v. Harnisch, case No. 115092/08, in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan.
Around the web
Grange Johnson’s hedge funds gain 70% so far in 2010. (Dow Jones Newswires)
Tax break favors the high-fliers: With no code change, fund managers still pay much lower rate. (Boston Globe)
Credit Suisse sees slowdown in money flowing into hedge funds. (NYT’s DealBook)
Debate on Indian exchange regulations heats up. (The Wall Street Journal)
Hedge funds in beeline for China riches. (The Standard)
Pandit praises Citigroup’s ‘rebirth’. (NYT’s DealBook)
Raj’s $30M war chest. (New York Post)
Sloane Robinson and Deutsche Bank preparing for Asia UCITS launch. (HedgeWeek)
BlackRock to launch trading platform. (Financial Times)
Cara Goldenberg: From analyst to hedge fund founder in six years. (Fortune)
SEC describes possible criminal activity in major unprosecuted hedge fund case. (Common Dreams)
The five best-paid hedge fund managers of 2010. (Clusterstock, from Insider Monkey)
Bankers face ’scorecard’ test to justify bumper bonuses. (The Telegraph)
Where next for hedgies?. (IPE.com)
Two GAM funds sue Citigroup for market fraud. (Opalesque)
People moves
Financial News reports that Balyasny Asset Management has lifted a team out of Stark Investments.
Ashok Bhatia, former partner and co-head of macro, fixed income, emerging markets and commodities at Stark; Colin Lancaster, former president and chief operating officer at Stark; and Robert Dishner and Owen Walsh will all join Balyasny in early 2011, according to Financial News. The Stark team will start running a global macro portfolio at Balyasny using $250 million from Balyasny. Balyasny, with about $2 billion in assets, is a multi-strategy hedge fund firm based in Chicago.
Activist frontier hedge fund expands with new hire. (HedgeFund.net)
December 29th, 2010 at 7:47 pm
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