Pequot Capital Management

Pequot Capital Management was a multi-billion dollar hedge fund sponsor founded in 1998 by Arthur J. Samberg that was forcibly terminated by order of the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2010. The firm's investment funds invested in a range of markets through a variety of strategies. The firm invested in public equities as well as private equity, venture capital, distressed securities, and various other fixed income securities.

The firm was founded in 1998 and was based in Westport, Connecticut with additional offices in San Francisco, California; New York, New York; Los Angeles, California; Greenbrae, California; Menlo Park, California; Wellesley, Massachusetts; and London, United Kingdom.

In 2008, the firm's venture capital business spun off to form FirstMark Capital, which is based in New York City.^[1][2]

In May 2009, the firm announced it was closing and in an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 27, 2010, the firm was permanently shut, paid a $28 million fine (consisting of $18 million in returned profit and $10 million in penalties), and Samberg was barred from working as an investment adviser for alleged violations of insider trading involving Microsoft Corporation stock occurring in 2001 and a prospective new hire of the hedgefund from Microsoft.^[3] It had been under multiple SEC probes since first being investigated by Gary J. Aguirre. On May 28, 2009, with an insider trading investigation ongoing, Samberg wrote, "With the situation increasingly untenable for the firm and for me, I have concluded that Pequot can no longer stay in business." ^[4]

See also

• FirstMark Capital

References

• Hedge Fund Retrenches by Giving Back Almost $2 Billion. New York Times.
• World's Biggest Hedge Fund Group Plans, Once More, to Split. New York Times.
• Many Hedge Funds Stumble on Wrong Side of Market Surge. New York Times.
• THE MARKETS: Market Place; Hedge Fund Falls Victim To Tech Bear. New York Times.
• Former First Boston Chief Is Named Chairman of Hedge Fund Company. New York Times.
• S.E.C. Is Reported to Be Examining a Big Hedge Fund. New York Times.
• Court Says S.E.C. Lacks Authority on Hedge Funds. New York Times.
• Inquiry Clouds Future for a Hedge Fund Survivor. New York Times.
• Panel Is Told S.E.C. Stopped a Hedge Fund Inquiry. New York Times.
• Pequot Says S.E.C. Won't Take Action. New York Times.

External links

• Pequot Capital Management (company website)
• FirstMark Capital (company website)