I've long wondered whether or not at one time being employed by Amaranth Advisors would be the professional equivalent of pulling a Merrill e.g. would it make you unemployable (except at Bear Stearns or Think Equity -- the IB equivalent of Frank Stallone)? Apparently the answer is 'no,' but a qualified no, that qualification being that you're neither Brian Hunter nor Nick Maounis. For instance, former AA chief operating officer Charles Winkler recently joined multi-strategy shop Hudson Bay Capital, and the entire investor relations team, which was known for being all sorts of "cheesy hot," found work at Scores (watch for them on "Happy Hour" next week).

Sadly, not everyone has had as much luck as Fonzie and the girls. Though Brian Hunter technically owns his own firm, insiders say that the market manipulator's venture is really just a front to fund legal fees associated with suing various websites for merely sharing his ideas on how he plans to fuck future clients. AA founder Rick Moranis is now in Tampa, trying, unsuccessfully so far, to get a telemarketing firm that defrauds the elderly off the ground. Anyway. I think we all know what time is:

Former Amaranth energy trader and current fishing enthusiast Brian Hunter, whose natural gas picks turned out to be so wrong that they lost the hedge fund $6 billion in week, filed an 18-page plea with a federal court in Washington, D.C. on Friday, asking them to stop FERC from looking into his job history. Why? It’s causing all sorts of problems for him at his new place of employment, and not just catty inter-office talk, like “B-bone’s ass looks huge in those pants.” (That was just a for instance. “That picture with the fish was totally staged. Dude’s never caught a guppy in his life” would work, too). According to Hunter, as a direct result of FERC’s investigation into his alleged market manipulation, Solengo has lost fund directors, traders and potential investors.

“The FERC’s OSC has continued to damage Solengo Capital Advisors and the company is now on the brink of complete disintegration,” Hunter noted in a supplemental declaration, and you know he must mean it because this guy never lies. Among the supposed ways Solengo has been victimized by FERC are the fact that two directors of the Solengo Managed Funds resigned on July 25, two portfolio managers who’d previously given their word to join the firm reneged, and the fund has lost an enormous amount of (potential investor) money, though not as much as Brian misplaced at Amaranth (come on now). The filing states that prior to FERC’s (just plain rude) action, 25 investors had plans to fork over $800 million in ‘lengo. The fine wine now counts less than 12 entities with a total of $100 million among them willing to give the fund any money. And—get this—there’ve been no new inquiries since FERC started sticking its nose in other people’s business.

Hunter also jumps in his Delorean and comes back to report in the filing that he may have to walk away from the operation entirely, since Solengo will probably not win the approval of Alberta regulators while his name remains on the box. (Unsolicited: maybe that’s what you should’ve done in the first place? Taken the hundreds of millions that remained in your bank account even after you guessed everything wrong at Amaranth, sat on a beach in the Virgin Islands (or down the shore, whatever) and promised to never trade again, even through E*TRADE Financial? OR, alternatively, used these psychic powers to not blow up your former employer?).

If salty discharge hasn’t appeared around your eyes yet, wait. By Hunter’s estimation, he has invested $1.7 million of his own money and an “enormous amount of [his] time” setting up the fund that may soon just be a distant memory (remembered for getting miffed at us for showing its marketing brochures, which have since been replaced with pictures of puppies in the sun). Anyone need a minute? There's no judgement in this room.

"Wonder-twin powers activate."

"Form of unhedged bets on Gulf hurricanes."

"Shape of hedge fund crashing."

Super group sues failed hedge fund [The Australian]

Earlier this week, we reported that Amaranth had offered it’s investors two options:

1. Agree not to sue us and we'll get you your money faster OR
2. Don’t agree not to sue us and we'll take a portion of the money you are owed and use it defending ourselves.

Sadly, though, thanks to what we can only imagine is a soulless, profiteering group known as SDCERA (the San Diego County Employees Retirement Association), that offer is no longer on the table. Full letter from Nick Maounis detailing the how’s and why’s, after the jump.

Yesterday representatives of Solengo Capital requested we remove their marketing brochure from our website. We told them to suck it.

You remember Solengo, right? It's the hedge fund that's being started by a team of traders from Amaranth, including the best known energy trader in the world, Brian Hunter.

Their reason for why we should do this sort of thing this request was quite extraordinary. Apparently the man from Solengo was under the impression that because his employer had stamped “confidential” (and other words to that effect) on its brochure, we were under a duty to keep their brochure confidential. It was as if the mere possession or perhaps knowledge of the brochure had conferred upon us a duty of confidentiality to them.

Imagine if you came upon a loan agreement stating a rate of interest a six points above LIBOR and were told later in the day that you were now under an obligation to pay the interest because you knew about it. You’d scoff, and not just because the interest rate was ridiculous. You know perfectly well that no one can impose a duty upon you without your agreement. You owe no one a debt unless you have agreed to pay them, taken something that belongs to them or they happen to be the government.

In the same way, we don’t believe we operate subject to the unilateral confidentiality assertions that get stamped on emails, offering documents or marketing brochures. We’ll keep the identity of our sources confidential—always—but that’s because we have an open promise to people who share valuable information with us. But writing “confidential” on a document does not obligate DealBreaker or anyone else to keep your secrets secret.

Apparently, we’re not the only ones Solengo has been asking to remove their brochure. Reuters reports that Solengo’s censors have also hit NakedShorts.com. Apparently NakedShorts decided to take down the materials because Solengo threatened to sue and, well, you know what lawyers cost these days. Who wants that? There's no fault in keeping your powder dry, and we can't blame NakedShorts for backdown from this particular fight.

But what is more amazing is that Solengo keeps offering up the same lame rationale for why the online business press should bow to their will and remove the brochure—namely, because Solengo says so.

Here's what it's chief operating officer told Reuters:

Shondell Sabad, chief operating officer of Solengo, confirmed in an email that the firm has asked the blogs to remove the material.

"The request was made to remove the brochure as it is confidential material and the blogger was not authorized by Solendo to reproduce or disseminate the information," said Sabad in an email to Reuters

That’s what we do around here, Sabad baby. We print things that, frankly, no one has authorized us to print or disseminate. No one but the founding fathers, the tradition of the free press and the First Amendment. (And, of course, Al Gore, inventor of these here internets, our investors, our sponsors and our very own personal founder, Elizabeth Spiers.)

The story continues, of course, because Solengo isn’t taking no--or "suck it"--for an answer. More on that later!

Ex-Amaranth traders ask blogs to remove materials [Reuters]

We posted this yesterday but it's not available through our old link (nor is it on FT Alphaville, or Naked Shorts, where it was previously...fishy indeed). So we're putting it up again as an easy to view image file. No downloading necessary. See especially: “Each fund contains margin restrictions and maximum capital restrictions to prevent serious liquidity and contagion risks from arising” and “Violation of restrictions eliminates ALL capital locks for investors in the fund," p.2. Though the pictures are our favorite parts, particularly the one of the flames, also p. 2 ("Our fund is on FIRE!"? "Investing in our fund will be like putting your money in a paper bag and lighting it on fire"? These things are so subjective).

Pretty exciting proposal today from a “group of Amaranth investors” offering those who lost money in the Brian Hunter-led debacle of ’06:

1. Don’t sue us and we'll get you your money faster OR
2. Don’t agree not to sue us and we'll take a portion of the money you are owed and use it defending ourselves.

Amaranth tests the lawsuit waters [CNN Money]

Writing about Wall Street for Time Magazine is a bit like writing about Williamsburg nightlife for the New York Times. Most of your readers have no idea what you’re talking about, so you can get away with almost anything. It probably gets a bit frustrating to know that none of the people you write about ever notice you but as a trade-off they never write angry letters to your editors either.

Still, Mike Kinsley’s take on the how Blackstone’s business works is pretty much just as clear as what Blackstone describes in its prospectus:

What do Schwarzman and Blackstone do for all this money? Oh, this and that, but mainly they buy publicly traded companies, take them private (that is, replace the public stockholders with private equity from institutions and rich individuals), do some abracadabra that increases the companies' value and then take them public again.

We'd say that "it's all done with smoke and mirrors" but the drug references are getting a bit heavy today.

Abracadabra for Sale [Time Magazine]

Sometimes when one door closes, another opens. And sometimes just when you try to crawl out, they pull you back in.

So even if Brian Hunter is ready to open his own hedge fund shop, not everyone is moving on so quickly. (By the way, if you’ve got a copy of the Solengo prospectus, please send it our way! Your anonymity is guaranteed!) Specfically, a US Senate probe into the natural gas futures market has reportedly unleashed a tidal wave of information from all over the market about experiences with market manipulation and regulatory proposals.

After Amaranth’s trading woes came to light, there were lots of allegations of market manipulation floating around Wall Street. Mysterious firings of prominent traders from big banks, rumors of breached Chinese Walls and talk about a “hit on the kid” were passed back and forth like a dusty mirror in this guy’s dorm room.

Wall Street has moved on but now the mirror has been passed to Capitol Hill, according to Platts news service.

Platts, which has done some of the best reporting on the Amaranth collapse, writes that lots of people have been talking to lawmakers and their cronies about the energy trading biz.

The amount of information submitted unsolicited to the committee is "enormous and surprising," the spokesman said, and came from a wide variety of
sources.

"Wall Street, hedge funds, big financial players," were just some of the bodies communicating directly with the committee, the spokesman said, but he declined to name names.

Details are emerging about the funds managed by the hedge fund reportedly founded by Brian Hunter, the energy trader who became famous when his natural gas bets helped topple Amaranth Advisors just six months ago. Notable features of the fund they are calling Solengo: quick exits for investors if portfolio managers cross risk control lines and the ability to opt out of funds managed by Brian Hunter himself. (We’re cribbing all this from Ann Davis, the Wall Street Journalreporter who had the cover story interview with Hunter shortly after news broke of Amaranth’s woes. The closest we’ve ever been to Hunter is hearing he ate at Sparks. Maybe he’s pissed about that fish picture.)

One other notable feature: the fund’s founders won’t discuss why they’ve named it after an Italian wine. Which raises the hairs on the back of our neck. These guys are going to make the very name of their fund an inside joke, and they expect you to give them your money? We’re kind of worried that Solengo might also be the name of the best stripper in Calgary.

Trader Behind Amaranth Collapse Launches Fund Focusing on Commodities [Wall Street Journal]

CNBC has just reported that famed Amaranth trader and icthyophile Brian Hunter is starting his own hedge fund to be called “Solengo,” like the wine. Run out of Calgary, Alberta and Greenwich, CT, “Solgengo” is still hiring traders and seeking money for a series of funds across the commodities space, an area that Hunter is still apparently “very comfortable in,” even after that little snafu that happened last year. For “Solengo,” Hunter has wrangled former Amaranth energy traders Shane Lee and Matthew Calhoun, as well as former quantitative analyst for risk management, Karl Koster.

“Solgengo,” potential investors should note, is a wine whose “concentrated aromas of berries and chocolate make the aftertaste last for minutes.” Its color is deep ruby to purple, with a captivating, rich, dense nose, replete with “ripe fruits and sweet spicy aromas. The palate is structured and “temerped by silky tannis.” A sometime wine writer and DB director of beverages notes that “Solengo” is a “California monster,” a description from which there is much to extrapolate: Hubris. Inferiority complex vis-avis better quality European wines. A need to crush everything in its path. And things of that nature.

On a related note, we’ll be starting our own hedge fund in Second Life later this year called Franzia. More info TK.

Trader in Amaranth Failure Starts New Hedge Fund [WSJ]

At least one Democratic senator doesn’t seem to be afraid of taking on hedge funds, with the rest of Congress’s new majority party safely in thrall to hedgies’ campaign generosity. Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) sent letters to FERC and CFTC yesterday wondering aloud why some weird/unexplained price movements in natural gas contracts just happened to have occurred right around the time a “multi-strategy” hedge fund in Greenwich lost a sizeable chunk o’ change. Alternatively, Sens. Chris Dodd and Pat Leahy prefer a less combative approach by which we either mean whatever it takes to not create tension at the cocktail parties they all attend together or just taking things easy around the office (No pants Thursdays!—or was that just when we were interning in the Corzine office, summer '05?).

Hate mail, after the jump.

*the only reason this is our third Amaranth post of the day is because we're indulging the J-man, as it's his first day back from prison.

While Citadel and JP Morgan may have benefited greatly from their cannibalization of that "multi-strategy" hedge fund up in Greenwich, some others aren’t fairing so well. Ivy Asset Management, having lost a report $1 billion in redemptions as a result of its Amaranth investments, will not be giving out any bonuses this year.

The absconded cash, pony rides and gumball machines, in conjunction with an exec-level shake-up (former CIO Adam Geiger left in December, replaced by Peter Noris, of Northstar Financial Services) and a difficulties raising assets have purportedly encouraged some employees to look for jobs at other funds, a source told HFMWeek. We hear Tom Hudson is currently looking for some new deck-swabbers and plant-waterers.

Ivy employees lose out on bonuses [HFMWeek reg required]

WSJ: True.

FT Alphaville: False.

Contrary to what one trader told Reuters on Friday, the commodities market is not collapsing - and neither is Red Kite.

“Red Kite was more of a random noise than an Amaranth. Remember, Amaranth went from being a diversified hedge fund to an energy play. Red Kite is a big trader in this area, with diversified exposure, so they’re not going to crash.”

“Red Kite had a fantastic year, and now they’re giving some of the profits back. It’s a normal process.”

Bloomberg: No comment. Are you starting to catch on to how we always say a lot but really never 'say' anything at all? Mikey tasers us when we give opinions.

SeekingAlpha: Mayhaps. But more importantly, who is the next Brian Hunter, whose face we can print up on cocktail napkins for when we all get together to debate this whole thing?

It doesn't look good. What are the odds that the responsible trader is in his thirties like Brian Hunter at Amaranth last year?

DB: Not sure. We've precious little expertise in this area. But here's hoping, 'cause, from the man himself:

jfcarney (12:13:28 pm): I need a project. Brian Hunter's not doing it for me like he used to and I've already alphabetized and re-alphabetized my vintage Penthouse collection by cover model last name and worn out my VHS copy of Lord of the Rings. Please let RK be the new Amaranth. I'm hanging on by a thread here. It's this or my TiVo'd episodes of In Living Color. I'm begging you.

Despite being built over what must be some sort of ancient Indian burial ground, Lloyd Blankfein and friends are hedging their bets that things will go more smoothly for them than Nick Maounis and co., as they consider leasing up to 200,000 square feet of office space left vacant by Amaranth, in Greenwich, Connecticut. While perhaps it would be more fitting for, say, J.P. Morgan to inhabit the space, any deal at all would be a boon to the Greenwich market, especially to the now-idle cabbies. In addition to the Amaranth meltdown, the Connecticut town has seen an additional 100,000 square feet of office space open up, with the departure of Royal Bank of Scotland, UST Inc. and Unilever A.G. Obviously, should Goldman actually set up shop up north, we'd be obligated to take another look-see. (Though perhaps in a town car as opposed to the Metro North. This is Goldman Sachs we're talking about, people).

Greenwich holds out hope for Goldman [FCBJ]

Former head of Amaranth Advisors' portfolio financing in Europe, James Scully, has "emerged at Lehman Brothers," Financial News reported this afternoon.

He has been hired into the prime services group, which services hedge funds and other institutional asset managers. A spokesman for Lehman Brothers confirmed that it has had hired Scully and said he will report to Matt Pinnock, head of financing sales and marketing for Europe.

Got any other postmortem personnel news? Let us know!

Lehman hires from Amaranth [Financial News]

Winner: Ken Griffin -- The Amaranth Advisors LLC corpse was still warm when Griffin took advantage of the hedge fund's disastrous $6 billion loss to scoop up its distressed natural gas, crude oil and power positions. With Amaranth investors still reeling from the devastating plunge and founder Nick Maounis scrambling to offer an explanation, Griffin's Citadel hedge fund enjoyed a 3% bounce within weeks. Thank you ...
Loser: Brian Hunter -- The wily Canadian energy trader for Amaranth was the envy of everyone on Wall Street with his bold bets on natural gas reaping $2 billion in profits in just over half a year. But what a difference a month of sunshine and no hurricanes makes. Hunter went from hero to goat in the span of about two weeks, delivering a loss the likes of which has not been seen since the legendary Long Term Capital Management implosion of 1998.

Related:
Winner: MarketWatch, for this Ted Haggard-inspired tour de force, "Come on, what's a handshake and few drinks among friends? OK, if we're splitting hairs, it was more like a rubdown from a gay whore."

Winners & losers
Commentary: Piles of cash, pop culture, hardware wars [Market Watch]

More former Amaranth guys landing jobs in London, according to the Financial Times:

US alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group becomes the latest firm to hire staff from Amaranth Advisors, the US hedge fund manager that collapsed in September, according to Financial News, who quoted the news source as HedgeWorldNews. Scott Davidson, a former Amaranth structured product portfolio manager, John Bailey, an ex-long/short energy equities manager at the firm, and Jaime Gualy join Carlyle Blue Wave, the firm’s new hedge fund unit.

Someone suggested that we start keeping track of where Amaranth's orphans end up working. Below we've linked to to previous items on the subect, and we're initiated a new tag to cover this: "After Amaranth." If you've heard anything more about Amaranth orphans getting jobs, not getting jobs or interviewing somewhere, please email us at tips@dealbreaker.com. Thanks!

People: Lehman Brothers, Carlyle Group, Fleming, Robeco-Sage Capital [Financial Times]

Previously on DealBook:Amaranth's London Squad Landing On Its Feet
Goldman Scoops Up Amaranth Bond Traders