Anyone who’s ever interfaced with a jerk knows that the best of breed have an uncanny ability to turn situations around so that, all of a sudden, they’re accusing *you* of being the prick. Brian Hunter is no exception. In the middle of an interview earlier this year with Washington regulators, everyone’s favorite salmon lover went off for lunch and “never came back.” Just, you know, never came back. Made small talk about the turkey sandwiches from the deli across the street, acted as though he would be returning, like everyone else, and then never came back.
When FERC chairman Joseph Kelliher dared to go public with this information, a spokesman for Hunter said that he “voluntarily flew to the U.S.A. to meet with FERC officials and give an interview. Brian ended the interview when he and his attorney became aware that the FERC had misrepresented the agenda for the discussion.” Got that? Not only will the Hunter not be apologizing for unilaterally ending the meeting, but *he,* Brian Hunter is accusing *other people* of pulling the wool over *his* eyes.
The trader who went to lunch and never came back [globe and mail]
Brian Hunter
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Brian Hunter
Brian Hunter Gets FERC’d
Federal Regulators level $291 million fine against energy trader and hedge fund
By John Carney 
This has not been a good week to be Brian Hunter. Yesterday the world’s most famous energy trader got slapped with a lawsuit by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for allegedly manipulating the markets in natural gas futures. This morning, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission announced that it would seek penalties amounting to $291 million from Brian Hunter, Amaranth Advisors and another trader formerly with the hedge fund.
FERC seeks $30 million from Brian personally. It has assessed penalties of $200 million against Amaranth Advisors, plus $59 million in unjust profits. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission this morning laid boot into various Amaranth entities, along with natural gas traders Brian Hunter and Matthew Donohue, seeking “penalties of $200 million for Amaranth, $30 million for Hunter and $2 million for Donohoe. The commission also proposes that Amaranth disgorge more than $59 million in unjust profits, plus interest.
Things could get even worse for Hunter. This morning , for instance, Gary Weiss wonders whether or not Hunter might face jail time. “Hey, I have a question: isn’t market manipulation against the law? Don’t people go to prison for that? Just wondering. After all, it seems to me that what these guys are talking about is a lot worse than insider trading,” Weiss writes.
FERC wants Amaranth, Hunter to pay $291M for manipulation [Market Watch]
Another Regulator Piles on Brian Hunter [Gary Weiss]
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Amaranth
Brian Hunter Is Unavailable Because He Is Playing A Computer Game That Takes Up His Whole Screen Called Losing Billions of Dollars
By Bess LevinThe job of a trader is a confluence of responsibilities, essentially limited to executing trades and IMing. Anyone who’s ever interfaced with one of God’s special creatures through AIM knows such an experience is a guided tour through copious spelling errors, homonym problems that suggest serious learning disabilities, response times that range from jackhammer to 3-hours-later-I’m-still-sitting-here and cockiness as far as the eye can see (*very* occasionally justified, most often not).
So while they’re not particularly revealing, it’s nice to read through some instant-message conversations between Brian Hunter, Matthew Donohoe, other Amaranth employees and a trader at another firm, who were all included in CFTC’s complaint against Hunter y Amaranth, and see that the biggest hedge fund fuckup of all time’s “experimental” grammar is no better than his actual trading. Next, we’ll publish his IMs with thefish. Those are some quality exchanges not to be missed.
It looks like Brian Hunter is getting his way. Yesterday his lawyers asked a federal court to block an energy regulator, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, from filing a lawsuit against him on the grounds that it was infringing on the jurisdiction of another regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. This morning the CFTC responded by filing a civil enforcement action against him and Amaranth Advisors.
Our favorite hedge fund newsletter, FinAlternatives, nicely points out the irony.
Hunter and his lawyers may now regret the vigorous defense of the CFTC’s right to bring such charges they put on in court yesterday and in court filings on Monday. During those proceedings, Hunter’s attorneys argued that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission did not have the authority to bring civil charges against him, as it had said it intended to do. The CFTC and FERC collaborated on the Amaranth investigation.
“FERC is not [emphasis in original] statutorily authorized to regulate futures markets for energy commodities, which include natural gas futures contracts,” Hunter’s lawyers wrote in their complaint against FERC. “FERC’s assertion of jurisdiction to bring an enforcement action is an impermissible encroachment on the exclusive statutory jurisdiction of the CFTC, and is beyond the scope of FERC’s statutory authority to regulate wholesale energy markets.”
A similar lawsuit from FERC is expected to be announced later today.
Amaranth, Hunter Hit With Market Manipulation Charges [FinAlternatives (free registration required)]
Complaint Against Amaranth Advisors and Brian Hunter [pdf]
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Amaranth
The Brian Hunter Lawsuit
No, Not That One. It’s A Brand New Lawsuit!
By John Carney Brian Hunter has filed suit against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission yesterday, asking a court to block the regulator from bringing an enforcement action against him. Hunter, of course, needs no introduction to regular readers of DealBreaker. But for those of you new to the site, Hunter (pictured left) is the energy trader whose positions in natural gas futures led to the collapse of Amaranth last year. We have no idea who the guy holding him up is.
Hunter claims that FERC lacks jurisdiction over trading in natural gas futures, which he says falls under the purview of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. FERC and the CFTC have been investigating natural gas futures trading at Amaranth.
But Hunter’s boldest claim is probably that his reputation would be damaged by a FERC action.
“If FERC files the unlawful action it contemplates against me, Solengo and I will suffer irreparable injury. The ability of the Solengo Managed Funds to attract potential investors in the future is based primarily on my personal reputation as well as Solengo’s ability to qualify for certain registrations, permits, and other legal arrangements,” Hunter writes in a statement to the court.
Apparently, Hunter believes that his role in destroying Amaranth hasn’t really hurt his personal reputation all that much. But a lawsuit from FERC. How could anyone survive something that big?
Ex-Amaranth Trader Fights Regulator [Wall Street Journal]
While it’s true that Brian Hunter lost a record-setting $6 billion in two weeks, that was other people’s money. He still got to keep the hundreds of millions he earned running the energy trading desk at Amaranth in happier times. And there are rumors that he’s raised hundreds of millions from Arab investors to fire up his new hedge fund, Solengo. So we were more than a bit shocked to learn from Greg Newton that Hunter has opened up shop in a worn-down strip-mall on the outskirts of town.
Newton, who mans the helm of the Naked Shorts blog, writes that he took a trip up to Calgary over the weekend to scope out the new space. The Solengo Headquarters are conveniently located a stone’s throw from “George’s Barber Shop” (which is closed indefinitely) and a colon hydrotherapist, according to Newton.
We don’t want to ruin a good gag, but we’re not sure that any of this took place outside of Newton’s head. To begin with, we’re pretty sure you can’t really open the windows on a G-V. Although DealBook seems convinced it did.
The neighborhood’s gone to hell [Naked Shorts]
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After Amaranth
Investors In Brian Hunter’s New Hedge Fund Can Opt Out Of Brian Hunter
By John CarneyDetails 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]
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