JPMorgan loses initial skirmish in a battle about the validity of side letters
Writes Neil Wilson
Rarely do hedge fund court room dramas involve Ferraris, strange incidents in Caribbean hotels and colourful personalities, but the nasty scrap over the 10% redemption penality charged by IIU's Macro Fund has it all including, as it now appears, a stolen letter.
The incident pits the great and the good of the New York hedge fund scene, including Joel Katzman at JPMorgan, Stanley Druckenmiller at Dusquene and the Stern family against the millionaire racehorse and soccer club owner, Dermot Desmond, who also owns IIU in Dublin.
Behind the glitz is, however, a serious issue that affects all of the hedge fund industry: the validity of countless side letters that investors ask managers to sign when they invest.
Essentially, JPMorgan and a group of investors, including Druckenmiller and the Stern family, are seeking to have the...