Passing on the torch.

A few years back, a hedge fund in Greenwich went out of business. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. Was called Amaranth Advisors. Was run by a guy named Nick Maounis. Had this lovable goof of a Canuck named Brian Hunter making natural-gas trades. Brian was always up for a good laugh and one day, on a lark, put on some trades that resulted in the firm losing, I don’t know, like $6.6 billion. It’s was hilarious! Maybe you had to be there, but I’m telling you, it was pant-pissingly funny. Definitely one of the best things to happen to the hedge fund community in a while. Anyway, some people who didn’t find it so funny, because they’re humorless stiffs, were AA’s investors. And apparently, they’re still not over it, which would explain why they are RUINING the best news ev-ar, which is that the guy who brought you Bri-Hunt is starting a new shop!

Maounis’s efforts come as some clients from his original Amaranth fund are fuming that they still haven’t received all their cash back. More than $250 million remains tied up in that firm. Some investors aren’t placated by the fact that Mr. Maounis faces constraints in returning cash amid lawsuits. Some Amaranth investors have lost patience. “It’s outrageous. The fund supposedly was liquidated four years ago, and I just want to be done with it,” said Donald Shapiro, a Boston-area investor who put $1 million of his family’s savings into Amaranth in 2001.

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