One of our favorite hedge fund wives wears white before Memorial Day at this week’s Tribeca Ball.
Harbinger Capital Partners
Several months back, it came to light that Phil Falcone had loaned himself some $113 million from one of Harbinger’s funds to pay personal taxes. He didn’t tell anyone about it at the time because he hadn’t thought it was that big a deal but when investors finally heard about it in November, it turned out they were mighty pissed. Goldman and Blackstone pulled their entire investments from the flagship fund and even though they should’ve take the loan as a postive sign (Falcone pays his taxes! Not everyone does that!), a bunch of clients feared it was a harbinger of not very good moments to come (some where also miffed about the fact that the loan was taken from a fund in which redemptions had been suspended). We too were a bit worried and couldn’t help but going to the dark place in which Wilbur, the Falcone’s piano-playing pig was laid off, Lisa had to sell the crown jewels of her wardrobe (including The Gladiator, Mermaid Chic, and Slutty Peacock, and the couple’s bar-in-closet could no longer stock top shelf liquor. The whole thing was very stressful, so today’s news brings some sweet relief. Continue reading »
This is the deal the ingrates known as Harbinger investors have pooh-poohed, with irrelevant arguments like the fact that they “thought they were putting money into a hedge fund that traded securities that were easy to buy and sell” and then Falcone goes and pulls something like this. Well he’ll show you. He’ll show all of you! Continue reading »
Earlier this week it was reported that Harbinger Capital’s chief investment officer, Lawrence M. Clark Jr, had resigned to start his own fund. According to Reuters’ Matthew Goldstein and Emily Chasan, several other employees will have parted ways with Phil Falcone, though their departures were less than voluntary. Continue reading »
The last month or so has not been the best of times for Phil Falcone. Harbinger Capital’s flagship is down, Goldman Sachs, Blackstone and some others have pulled their money, investors have been giving him shit for borrowing $113 million from one of his funds (where redemptions had been frozen) in order to pay personal taxes, he had to put up his art as collateral to borrow even more cash (for what, it’s unclear), he’s being investigated by the SEC and Wilbur, the family’s dancing pig, has been such a god damn bitch. He told the Times none of this is any way a big deal (“The last thing I’m thinking about in the morning is whether I have a cash-flow problem,” he said) and now, he’s be forced to defend his liquidity again. This time, with regard to the mortgage he took out on his house over the summer, after buying it for $49 million in cash. Continue reading »
The last month or so has not been the best of times for Phil Falcone. Harbinger Capital’s flagship is down, Goldman Sachs, Blackstone and some others have pulled their money, investors have been giving him shit for borrowing $113 million from one of his funds (where redemptions had been frozen) in order to pay personal taxes, he had to put up his art as collateral to borrow even more cash (for what, it’s unclear), he’s being investigated by the SEC and every time he drives down the road he just wants to jerk the wheel into a god damn bridge abutment.
First, though, he’d like to put some rumors to bed, and in a profile with the Times yesterday, did just that.
* On the hideous suggestion he’s got a liquidity problem:
Mr. Falcone has been selling investments. He has unloaded stakes in Citigroup and The New York Times Company and a $650 million investment in Inmarsat, a British satellite company. All of this has led to speculation in the hedge fund community that Mr. Falcone and his firm are confronting a cash squeeze. If more investors withdraw money, the whispers go, Mr. Falcone could be in trouble. Nonsense, said Mr. Falcone in an interview in his office. “The last thing I’m thinking about in the morning is whether I have a cash-flow problem,” he says.
* On people not getting that he loaned himself investor money because he really needed it and not because he was just dicking around.:
A little more than a year ago, Mr. Falcone took a $113 million personal loan from the fund, a move that was vetted by his lawyers, he said. Mr. Falcone said a big chunk of his personal wealth is tied up in his own funds. “It’s not like I have $113 million in my checking account,” he said, chuckling.
From the mailbag: Continue reading »
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