• 23 Apr 2009 at 4:51 PM

Fast Times At Harvard Management Company

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Of course, it is pretty easy after the fact to point fingers and cast aspersions. But when what would appear to be a pattern of laxity, misfeasance and perhaps even malfeasance begins to emerge out of the mist, well, things become harder to dismiss.
It seems part of the culture of the crisis that the mighty would be made to bow low. Harvard is not only no exception, it is a major recurring theme, on both sides of the blame game. The light shown on the Harvard Management Company by The Harvard Crimson is, therefore, rather a critical bit of theater.
The Crimson winds a twisted path around taxation, endowment management, off-shore entities, off-setting management fees and one Lawrence H. Summers. Take out the names and the narrative sounds quite familiar, actually:

“The general disregard for the rules, procedures and compliance–it was ridiculous,” Rose said in an interview with The Crimson. “You had to be quiet and do it and put blinders on. If you were doing work in other aspects of the company, you could just do your job. But in [my] part of the job, you couldn’t ignore things.”
Harvard Management Company–which oversees Harvard’s multi-billion dollar endowment–was plagued by a culture of ethical laxity, Rose said. Special relationships with funds run by former employees and the use of offshore investment companies–both used to boost HMC’s once-legendary returns–may not be illegal, but are considered to be ethically questionable by some, particularly in light of Harvard’s non-profit status.

HMC Tax Concerns Aided Federal Inquiries [The Harvard Crimson]

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Comments (12)

  1. 1
    Posted by guest | April 23, 2009 at 4:56 PM

    FIRST beehatches!!!

  2. 2
    Posted by Anal_yst | April 23, 2009 at 4:56 PM

    Waaaaa, offshore entities and bankrolling alums, waaaa cry me a river

  3. 3
    Posted by guest | April 23, 2009 at 5:01 PM

    Wow! A former tax manager at a big 4 firm. That’s about as select a group as Dr. Pepper drinkers. Next. Avoiding tax is not illegal. Evading is. This guy likely can’t distinguish between the two. He needs to go back to public accounting and keypunching 990 forms.

  4. 4
    Posted by guest | April 23, 2009 at 5:17 PM

    this is investing bitches not the girlscouts…

  5. 5
    Posted by guest | April 23, 2009 at 5:28 PM

    So Mr. Rose got his panties in a knot because HMC negotiated preferred fees with some of its managers? The horror…the horror.

  6. 6
    Posted by guest | April 23, 2009 at 5:31 PM

    So, Mr. Rose got his panties in a knot because Harvard was using its pricing power to negotiate reduced fees with some of its managers? The horror…the horror.

  7. 7
    Posted by Novice | April 23, 2009 at 6:19 PM

    @5 If so, I’ve got some ‘splaining to do…
    Christ, I think the article even implies that avoiding UBIT is unethical for a non-profit

  8. 8
    Posted by guest | April 24, 2009 at 12:52 AM

    Wow, somebody from Harvard did something unethical in the pursuit of money. shocking
    Maybe ethics needs to be part of the core curriculum.

  9. 9
    Posted by guest | April 24, 2009 at 5:09 AM

    The only reason this was posted was that it presented an opportunity for EP to disparage Harvard and Summers.

  10. 10
    Posted by guest | April 24, 2009 at 11:43 AM

    Guest@#9…
    Harvard should be “disparaged”. So should Larry “Sleepy” Summers.
    Why do you think they shouldn’t be?
    The Guy from Delaware

  11. 11
    Posted by Extitdok | April 15, 2012 at 3:23 PM

    sell louis vuitton knockoffs , just clicks away

  12. 12
    Posted by Bristol Airport Hotels | April 19, 2012 at 7:59 AM

    SpVoQN I really enjoy the blog article.Really looking forward to read more. Great.

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