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Didn't happen to me but to someone I met: Hedge Fund in Connecticut (aren't they all). Someone's first job after grad school. Someone and his boss are trading,
by projectramo 8y ago
Didn't happen to me but to someone I met:
Hedge Fund in Connecticut (aren't they all). Someone's first job after grad school. Someone and his boss are trading, and things go very well the first year. Its a small fund ($1-$10 million). The idea is to get a track record and then make the big bucks.
The second year things are way down. Almost half the fund has evaporated. Someone comes to work to find he can't place trades. Sees that the shares are there but the liquid money in the cash account seems to be gone. Panics. Calls the major investors to tell them.
Investor calls cops on him who arrest him. Turns out the boss had run off with the liquid cash in the account (worked out to about $60,000). The fund was down but it was a small fund.
Someone was released from jail and not charged, but the boss was.
It is just wild that someone would try to make a run for it and ruin their lives and go to jail for that sum.
- toss1 8y agoWhy would the investor call the cops on the guy who alerted them to the missing funds? Was there a reason for him to have been suspicious, or was it more of a "Something's wrong! Start shooting! Oh there's a messenger, shoot him!" sort of response?
- projectramo 8y agoI heard it from the guy who had the cops called on him. The investor didn't direct the cop to anyone at particular, but to the "company." There was only one person at the office that they could get ahold of. I am fuzzy on the details. I don't know if the arrest happens right then and he was let go the next morning, or in an hour. He was very stressed at the cop's presence. He didn't know till later that everything was okay.
- toss1 8y agoWow, so they go to the company premises, and it's the cops that say "arrest everyone and sort it out later". Must have been a uniquely unpleasant day for your acquaintance. And yeah, absconding for a mere $60K is just stupid. It's not going to get you very far, except in jail. $6 or $60 million might make some sense, otoh ... (but that's for discussion under the other item on HN "everyone has his price" )
- projectramo 8y agoI wonder if financial crimes are more common there and the cops are trained to get everyone out of the office so they can seize and copy the records off the computers or something. Edit: found this http://www.forensicaccountingservices.com/fraudvault/connecticut-has-a-task-force-for-that/ http://www.forensicaccountingservices.com/fraudvault/connect...