| Steve Eisman (Illustration by Andrea Ventura) |
One year ago
»» Steve Eisman left FrontPoint Partners. The multistrategy hedge fund firm announced it was liquidating many of its single manager vehicles in the wake of heavy redemptions following the Chip Skowron insider trading scandal, including Eisman’s Financial Horizons and Financial Services funds.
Eisman gained minor celebrity after being featured in Michael Lewis’ book The Big Short for his successful subprime bet while at FrontPoint. He has since re-emerged with the founding of Emrys Partners, which began trading in March with $22.9 million from friends and family and which is now fundraising with institutional investors. An updated asset figure was not available and a spokesperson for Eisman declined to comment. The long/short fund invests in equity and credit markets with an “emphasis on the interplay between the financial services industry, the funding markets and the overall economy,” according to the firm’s marketing materials.
FrontPoint stopped doing business at yearend. The firm’s rise and abrupt collapse were detailed in AR’s September 2011 cover story, The fall of FrontPoint.
Five years ago
»» Former Clinton Treasury secretary Robert Rubin said hedge fund managers (and their private equity peers) ought to pay full income taxes on their performance-fee income, as opposed to the 15% capital gains rate. “It seems to me what is happening is people are performing a service, managing peoples’ money in a private equity form, and fees for that service would ordinarily be thought of as ordinary income,” he said.
At the time, Rubin was chairman of the executive committee at Citigoup, but he resigned in January 2009 and is now co-chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations. The political debate about taxing hedge fund managers’ income under normal rates continues to rage on. President Barack Obama is in favor, while Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has sidestepped addressing the issue directly while some in his party have shown willingness to compromise.
Rubin was not immediately available for comment.
See also: The tax bite looms, again • Senate candidate Hovde soft pedals hedge fund ties • Maverick COO elected MFA chairman