We wouldn't recognize Brian Hunter if we stole a cab from him on Water Street at four a.m. Our famous picture (see left) of Brian Hunter being held aloft by a friend is even more famously unhelpful for figuring out what the guy looks like. We haven't been able to find any confirmed pictures of the Amaranth energy trader whose bets on natural gas futures brought down what was once the "biggest hedge fund you've never heard of."
But apparently not everyone is as ignorant as we are. And some of those "in the know" folks are our readers. One writes in with a totally unconfirmable sighting of Hunter in New York City. And so, of course, we would be totally irresponsible to actually go ahead and publish such an unconfirmed report. But we're doing it anyway. 'Cause this is DealBreaker.
So here's the scenario. It's Sparks, the midtown steakhouse where mobsters go to get killed and women go to meet the kind of guys who want to eat steak in the kind of place where mobsters go to get killed. Dinner. The man who is allegedly Brian Hunter (known for the rest of this piece simply as "Hunter") is seated with an unknown group of financial types. Everyone orders steak.
Except "Hunter." Shocking our source, "Hunter" completely eschews the steak. Instead he goes with four orders of mac & cheese. That's right. On his first reported appearance in public, "Hunter" ate at a steakhouse and ate no steak.
Of course there are all sorts of questions responsible reporters would ask. We just aren't sure what they are. Our question: what is "Hunter" doing in New York? Who were those carnivores seated with him? For several weeks there have been rumors that Hunter was talking to investors about starting his own fund. But we'd heard those were mostly Europeans. Maybe New York money still wants to own a bit of Brian.
[Note: we love these people spotting tips. Please send more to tips@dealbreaker.com. Anyone whose name DealBreaker readers would or should recognize is fair game, and the more mundane the activity the better. We'll totally protect your anonymity. We'll even send Bess Levin to jail, Judy Miller style, rather than give you up to the authorities.]
Previously on Brian Hunter [DealBreaker Archives]
Posted by Bess Levin, Feb 07, 2007 11:53AM
You spent the past 3 weeks in Rikers playing Bubba's girlfriend and now you're going to send me down the river for some of the same treatment? I don't think so, Suzy.