Among the many reasons typically cited by hedge fund managers who choose to run their business out of Connecticut instead of New York are: 1. The room to stretch their shit out 2. Proximity to the Long Island Sound 3. Convenience for those already living in the area. Some probably also believe that the Fairfield County is slightly safer than New York City. That you’re not going to get jumped walking out of the office or beaten with a tire iron because you messed with someone’s man or woman. OR WILL YOU? Read more »
Greenwich
Greenwich, Connecticut Nobody Threatening To Dethrone Area Hedge Fund Manager As Biggest Middle-Aged Superhero Fan In Town
By Bess LevinExhibit A:
Friday morning at AQR, August 10. Cliff Asness glanced pensively at a candy-colored array of Marvel superhero figurines lined up along his east-facing window. Spiderman. Captain America. The Hulk. Iron Man. Comic book heroes of his boyhood days on Long Island.–The Quants, by Scott Patterson, page 100.
“Hedge funds charge far too much in general by claiming to be geniuses,” says Asness, lounging on a sofa in his corner office, surrounded by foot-high plastic models of comic book heroes like Captain America and Spider-Man. –Fortune, December 19, 2011
As a child, Clifford Scott Asness gave no sign of his future as a Wall Street tycoon. He was born in October 1966 in Queens, New York. When he was four, his family moved to the leafy suburban environs of Roslyn Heights on Long Island. In school Asness received good grades, but his interest in Wall Street didn’t extend beyond the dark towers of Gotham in the pages of Batman. Obsessed with little besides girls and comic books, Asness was a listless teenager, without direction and somewhat overweight. At times he showed signs of a violent temper that would erupt years later when he sat at the helm of his own hedge fund.–The Quants, by Scott Patterson, page 12.
“His super-villains are intellectual dishonesty and ignorance,” says Jonathan Beinner, a managing director at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and a former classmate of Asness. “When someone offers an opinion that Cliff feels is incorrect or dishonest, whether it be related to investments, politics or pizza, he feels it is his duty to stand up, even if it’s not in his best interest.” Asness admits to a superhero complex. His favorite Marvel comic book character is Captain America, who gains strength with the help of a secret serum and whose shield can be used as an indestructible weapon. Asness has an image of the shield tattooed on his left arm.–Bloomberg Markets Magazine, October 7, 2010
Exhibit B:
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Bloomberg reports that Uncle Vik has put his 6-bedroom, 6-bath Greenwich, CT weekend house on the market and while experts are skeptical he’ll get the $4.3 million asking price, perhaps someone will consider throwing him a bone. Citi shareholders have screwed him yet again and he could use the cash. No zen garden to speak of (cruel world) but there are “rolling grounds” and a lagoon-like pool. Make him an offer.
Area Greenwich Man Will Bet You $252 Million / His Life Local Powerball “Winners” Are Fronting
By Bess LevinLast week in Connecticut, a theory was put forth: that the three asset managers who’d come forward with the winning Powerball ticket were doing so as a favor for a client who was too embarrassed to do so himself. To the naked eye, this seemed to check out. First off, it took Brandon Lacoff, Tim Davidson, and Gregg Skidmore nearly a month to claim their $252 million prize, and they only did so after lottery officials essentially waged a manhunt to find them. Second, they didn’t seem excited at all about their post-tax lump sum of $103 million. No smiles, no jazz hands, no chest bumps for the camera. Third, the guys all work for a firm called Belpointe Capital, an asset manager that, while it affords them the luxury of living in Fairfield County, is not at the point where it’s making everyone rich beyond the dreams of avarice or where the principals are in a position to be telling clients what’s what or failing to acquiesce to their demands, unconventional as they may be. Finally, a “person familiar with the matter” swore it was true. So most people chose to accept the theory and move on with their lives. The crack investigative team at the Stamford Advocate, however, decided this wasn’t over. Instead, they demanded to see a copy of the ticket, in addition to “passport and driver’s licenses of the winning trio and a photocopy of a check made out for $103,586,824 to a trust set up by Davidson, Lacoff, and Skidmore,” all of which they were able to obtain it under the Freedom Of Information Act, which was conceived with exactly this sort of matter of public importance in mind.
Upon viewing Davidson’s signatureprinted name on the above scan, despite being unclear what it proves exactly other than that he signed the ticket after the fact, one might be satisfied that three men did in fact pool 33, 33, and 34 cents each to buy that winning ticket. Like the Advocate, however, someone else is not yet finished here. Read more »
Why does Southern Connecticut get everything? Why does it get to lay claim to all that is great in this world? A short-list includes Steve Cohen’s Cummings Point Pleasure Dome, a guy who’ll park his car on your roof, a group of asset managers who will be more than happy to do whatever you ask, be it bury a hooker you killed or claim your lotto winnings, Cliff Asness’s doll collection, The Largest Trading Floor In The WorldTM, the No. 1 Candy Theft Prevention Team in the U.S., the Great Toilet War of ’08, Paul Tudor Jones’ Christmas Spectacular, Heights and Lights (“a 20-year Stamford tradition that features an acrobatic Santa Claus rappelling down the side of of a building on his way to a local tree lighting”) and now this? Read more »
Yesterday afternoon, three Greenwich men came forward with a winning Powerball ticket worth $254 million. Lottery officials had been searching for nearly a month to find them, posting billboards all over Connecticut “urging” the ticket holder to reveal him or herself and claim the prize. But when Gregg Skidmore, Tim Davidson, and Brandon Lacoff finally did, it was not how people pictured it. Frank Farricker, for one, was very disappointed. He’d expected the men to be more excited, more celebratory, more over the top pumped about their windfall. Frank didn’t get that, though. Instead he got three guys who seemed at best embarrassed and at worst pained to be collecting, after taxes, a lump sum of $103.5 million. At the time, some speculated that the reason the trio, Skidmore in particular, looked like they were about to have a group colonoscopy rather than take home a bag of cash, was that they were worried how it would appear, given that they are not just Gold Coast residents but money managers in Belpoint Capital, and you know how the general public feels about those types. Today, however, another theory has emerged. Read more »
All Frank Farricker is saying is that if he’d bought the winning Powerball ticket? He would’ve acted like it meant something to him, unlike Mr. It’d Kill Me To Crack A Smile over here. Read more »
Is this a press conference to discuss winning $254 million or donating that much to Jerry Sandusky's 'rainy day fund'?
Connecticut residents Gregg, Brandon, and Tim were initially bashful about coming forward. Read more »
Two Greenwich sisters were issued summons for third-degree disorderly conduct after police were called to a town residence on a report of a domestic dispute. The sisters, ages 14 and 16, were involved in an argument over computer usage. Police said one of the girls interrupted the other’s computer usage, causing her to shove her out of the room. The girl shoved out of the room then cut off power to the computer room, causing a physical fight. The sisters were referred to juvenile court and will appear there on October 4. [Police Blotter]
You’re a hedge fund manager working and living in CT, catching a 7:30 showing of Harry Potter this evening in Stamford. The tickets have been purchased, the seats selected, and the previews about to begin. You tell your wife you need to take a leak and will be back in 5. You clumsily make your way through the aisle, forcing people to turn their legs so you can fit through and get outside. But once there you don’t head toward the bathroom. Because that’s not what you actually excused yourself to do. Oh, you came outside to pull down your pants and relieve yourself alright, but in a totally different way: by shoving a box of Jujubees in them. Read more »
A couple weeks back, an 8-foot long, 160-pound mountain lion started hanging around Greenwich, Connecticut and its nearby towns. News stations noted that a cat that size hasn’t been seen in those parts in 100 years; residents and people who work in the area were more than a little freaked the fuck out. Now testing of evidence found last week has revealed everyone should be doubly worried. Read more »
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