SEC: Whitman In Rajaratnam Web
Doug Whitman, president of Whitman Capital, is the latest hedge-fund manager to rouse the Securities and Exchange Commission’s suspicions as the agency attempts to untangle Raj Rajaratnam’s insider-trading network, Bloomberg writes.
Whitman allegedly profited to the tune of $900,000 from tips on Google and Polycom. Those tips, the SEC alleges, were provided by Roomy Kahn, a former executive at Intel, a “cooperating witness” in the Rajaratnam case and Whitman’s neighbor.
Whitman, if convicted, could face a 30-year prison term. See the full story here.
More Green Shoots As Outflows Fall
Reuters today reports hedge fund outflows dipped to 0.53% in January: great news considering the beating managers took in 2011. Data from the GlobeOp Capital Movement Index also showed inflows increased to 2.25%.
GlobeOp CEO Hans Hufschmid said inflows were due, in part, to investors’ annual rebalancing efforts. He added challenges associated with the equity market and ultralow interest rates could also be a factor. Click here for Reuters’ take.
Harvard EM Duo Ditch Cambridge
Harvard Management Company’s Steve Alperin and Sara Fleiss have, jointly, hung their own shingle, HFM Week today reports.
Alperin had been portfolio manager for Harvard’s emerging market equities portfolio. Fleiss had been lead analyst on the team. Their firm, Emeth Partners, is poised to launch an emerging markets-based event-driven volatility arbitrage strategy sometime in the third quarter.
Emeth, according to Wikipedia, is Hebrew for “truth.” It’s also the name of a character in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series. Ah, those brainy Harvard types! Click here for the story.