Pequot Capital Management

Pequot Capital Management

Type	Private
Industry	Hedge fund, Private Equity
Founded	1998
Founder	Arthur J. Samberg
Headquarters	Westport, Connecticut, United States
Key people	John J. Mack (prior)

Pequot Capital Management was a multibillion-dollar hedge fund sponsor founded in 1998 by Arthur J. Samberg that announced it was closing in 2009. 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 closed in 2010 following allegations of insider trading.

History

The firm was founded in 1998 and was based in Westport, Connecticut, United States, with additional offices in San Francisco; New York City; Los Angeles; 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]

Closure

In May 2009, the firm announced it was closing and in an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 27, 2010, 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, David Zilkha, from Microsoft.^[3][4] 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." ^[5] One of the investigators of the case, Gary J. Aguirre, won a whistleblower case after being fired when he recommended that the investigation proceed further.^[6]

See also

• FirstMark Capital

References

1. Pequot Ventures Spun Off As FirstMark Capital
2. Pequot Ventures Plans Split With Hedge Fund
3. New York Times
4. AP, September 8, 2013, David Collins Retrieved June 2014
5. "Pequot Capital to Shut Amid SEC Insider-Trading Probe".
6. Senate report, pp. 11–14 "The Firing of an SEC Attorney and the Investigation of Pequot Capital Management." Joint report by the United States Senate Committee on Finance and the Senate Judiciary Committee (August 3, 2007). Retrieved February 20, 2011

• 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)