Charisma is the best and worst thing that you can find in a money manager. It allows you to raise money, get deal flow and network with what looks like almost

Charisma is the best and worst thing that you can find in a money manager. It allows you to raise money, get deal flow and network with what looks like almost no effort. It also allows you to get way in over your head. I mean, this could describe maybe 10% of hedge funds that get started. Charismatic young leader, raises money, has a good year or two and then success gets to their head. They take their eye off of work and start believing their own hype, they throw lavish parties, and fly in private jets. Then the CFO quits, investor questions aren't answered in a convincing manner. Requested documentation is harder to find that Trump's tax return. If you wanted to look for fraud in a fund, you could probably get to 80-90% success rate just by looking for 1) CFO or general counsel resignations. 2) CEO's who go from spending 16 hours a day working to 3 days a week working. 3) A pronounced decrease in fund transparency in the form of financials and reporting. This is why countries have accredited investor rules. Fraud, even if it doesn't start out that way, too often creeps in when people who have initial success find that sustained success is much, much, much harder to keep up.