By 2002, investigators across the United States appeared to be closing in on Raj Rajaratnam, a wealthy hedge fund executive, for insider trading.
Worried about a regulatory crackdown, mutual fund executives are pushing for limited restrictions on a controversial type of fund in an effort to end a bitter dispute between the government and the financial industry.
Most of the mutual fund cases of the last four months have involved accusations either that a particular large investor received preferential treatment, or that mutual fund executives made trades for their own benefit in ways not available to regular shareholders.
Martin Shkreli, the former hedge fund executive notorious for radically jacking up the price of a pill used by cancer and HIV patients, has taken over another pharmaceutical company. .
One lobbyist in the club — after lauding each staff member in Mr. Boehner's office that he routinely calls to ask for help — ticked off the list of recent issues for which he had sought the lawmaker's backing: combating fee increases for the oil industry, fighting a proposed cap on debit card fees, protecting tax breaks for hedge fund executives and opposing a cap on greenhouse gas emissions.
But regulators now say they are uncovering outright fraud and cheating by fund executives, and a blatant disregard for what is supposed to be the hallmark of mutual fund management: that the client's interests rise above all others.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn)., who represents a state with a large number of financial industry professionals, has said that he spends far more time talking about a special tax break for hedge fund executives when he calls donors than when he meets constituents at the grocery store.
Last week, Phillip Goldstein, the hedge fund manager, announced a not-so-modest proposal: He told The Financial Times that he plans to sue the Securities and Exchange Commission over a rule about hedge-fund advertising that is often blamed for muzzling hedge fund executives.
At this stage in their Y2K planning, mutual fund executives are busy readying contingency plans for such occurrences, however unlikely.
A book agent, Nina Collins, and her husband, Marek Fludzinski, a hedge fund executive, paid $8.5 million for a 25-foot wide, five-story brownstone in need of renovation.
