Forbes- Investors who lost hundreds of millions of dollars when two Bear Stearns hedge funds collapsed in August are joining forces to replace Bear Stearns affiliates and designees as managing parties of the failed entities and set the stage for a thorough independent inquiry.
Institutional and private investors have joined together seeking the necessary proxies from investors representing at least 50.1% of holdings in each of the funds. Two separate votes are scheduled beginning next week — first for the U.S. fund, then for the overseas, Cayman-based fund. Shares held by Bear Stearns or its affiliates cannot be voted in the elections.
The campaign, to our knowledge the first of its type, is aimed at replacing Bear Stearns affiliates and designees with FTI Capital Advisers, LLC, a FINRA-registered broker/dealer, and wholly-owned subsidiary of FTI Consulting, Inc., a world renowned entity specializing in forensic accounting and investigations, to conduct an independent investigation into how the two funds, which once had equity value in excess of $650 million, were decimated and appear to have been rendered worthless.
To augment FTICA’s expertise, Bart Schwartz, Esq., former Chief of the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, is nominated to serve alongside FTICA in managing the overseas fund.
