Halls of Justice

Beverly Hills, Calif., hedge fund manager Michael McCready has pleaded guilty to running a $9 million Ponzi scheme.

A German fund of hedge funds group may find itself in trouble on both sides of the Atlantic for allegedly misleading banks to win greater leverage for its fund, leading to about US$400 million in losses.

The trial of Minnesota businessman, hedge fund manager and accused Ponzi schemer Thomas Petters finally gets under way today, almost exactly one year after his arrest on fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice charges.

Less than a week after deciding to close its hedge funds, the Galleon Group has already liquidated more than 90% of its assets.

Insider trading was hardly the worst of Raj Rajaratnam’s crimes, according to a lawsuit filed against the indicted Galleon Group founder last week.

Signaling his intention to fight the fraud and conspiracy charges against him, Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam has enlisted a top-flight Washington lawyer to defend him.

Mark Kurland, the other hedge fund founder accused of insider trading in the Raj Rajaratnam case, has denied any wrongdoing.

Jeffry Picower, the billionaire philanthropist and big Bernard Madoff investor, died after suffering a massive heart attack in his Palm Beach, Fla., pool, the medical examiner has ruled.

Susan and Jeffry PicowerJeffry Picower, said to be the largest individual beneficiary of Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, was found dead yesterday in his Palm Beach, Fla., pool.

Picower, who allegedly withdrew more than $7.2 billion from his accounts with Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities over the past two decades, was found at the bottom of the pool by his wife, Barbara, who runs his charitable foundation. He was rushed to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead about an hour and a half later; an autopsy is being performed today to determine the cause of death.

While some clients of Lehman Brothers’ European prime brokerage may soon get some of their frozen assets back, that’s of little comfort to activist hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners.