Does Herbalife have more street cred than the New York Post? Maybe so. The tabloid reported Monday morning that the Federal Trade Commission has received 192 complaints filed against nutrition-supplements maker over the past seven years. The report did not specify whether the FTC has launched an investigation, but it said, “Other complaints contained a note referring to a ‘pending law enforcement action.’” The article sent the stock plummeting when trading began. Shares were down more than 4 percent at one point. Herbalife responded with a statement saying that, other than the voluntary dialogue with regulators that it disclosed during its January investor day, it is unaware of any other regulatory interest and/or investigation. “We are demanding a correction from the NY Post,” it added. The stock halved its loss after that. By mid-afternoon Bloomberg was reporting FTC’s comments in an e-mail, that in responding to the Post’s Freedom of Information Law request, the paper should have said that it withheld some information from documents posted online because it can’t disclose consumer complaints obtained from foreign sources if they request confidentiality. The FTC did not say if it is investigating Herbalife, Bloomberg said. Sure enough, the stock rallied on the rebuttal, closing up 1.25 percent, at $35.51 after the day’s roller-coaster ride.
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The 200 largest U.S. retirement funds deployed $134.7 billion into hedge funds and hedge funds-of-funds in the year ended September 30, up 20.3 percent from the prior year, according to Pensions & Investments. What’s more, over the past five years, the amount of money that poured into hedge funds surged by 67.1 percent.
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Keith Anderson, a George Soros alum has tapped Doug Paul, a 43-year veteran of Credit Suisse Group, to run his new hedge fund, Anderson Global Macro. Anderson, who served as Soros’ chief investment officer from February 2008 through July 2011, plans to launch his macro trading hedge fund later this year. In 2011 Soros returned the remaining outside capital in his firm and turned the business into a family office.
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A full page advertisement that appeared in the New York Times Monday identified 28 Super Bowl Hosts for the 2014 Super Bowl, which will be held across the river from New York City in New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium. Two of the sponsors are prominent hedge fund investors — Steve Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors and Paul Tudor Jones II and his wife Sonia. Tom Conheeney, president of SAC, and Jones, also serve as vice chairs.
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Another individual sentenced for his insider trading role involving Marvell Technology Group. Karl Motey, who worked for consulting company Coda Group, was sentenced to time served followed by one year of supervised release. Motey earlier pleaded guilty to providing Doug Whitman, the president and founder of hedge fund Whitman Capital, and others inside information relating to Marvell and its customers from late 2007 through early 2009. In return, Coda Group received quarterly consulting fees from clients, including soft dollar payments from Whitman Capital.
