The Securities and Exchange Commission charged New York-based investment adviser Hennessee Group LLC and its principal, Charles J. Gradante, with securities law violations on April 22nd. They settled on charges of failing to perform their advertised review and analysis before recommending that their clients invest in the Bayou hedge funds that were later discovered to be a fraud.
In a settled administrative proceeding, the Commission issued an order finding that Hennessee Group and Gradante failed to perform appropriate due diligence before recommending investments in the Bayou hedge funds. The SEC also found that they failed to conduct a reasonable investigation into red flags …read more

I would have liked to call this post Hedge Funds De-Mystified, but that’s not really possible. The beauty, and danger, of hedge funds lies partly in their veil of secrecy. The rest is risk. Hedge funds are the bad boy of investments
What is a Hedge Fund?
As if the complexities of the investment itself weren’t confusing enough, even the name hedge fund is misleading. While many funds make investments that are designed to hedge, or protect against, risk, this is actually a very risky investment. Here are the common characteristics of a the class of investments known as hedge funds:

An investment …read more

The dollar’s weakness has been a very big story this year, and one which I’ve followed with keen interest. On one hand, as a fairly frequent traveller, the high euro has made those trips much more expensive. On the other hand, as an attorney who charges fees in dollars, my fees have become more reasonable over the past year, which I suppose should help my business (at the same time making my home market less attractive). The change over the last year is very evident when you look at this chart from indexmundi.
I’m not much of a pop culture …read more