( www.businessweek.com ) The case of a Main Street broker who allegedly used money for a nonexistent hedge to support his side business will encouragecalls for regulatory oversight of the industry.
Not all the hedge-fund scandals of late have involved complicated transactions and big players like Wood River (see BW Online, 10/13/05, “Another Fishy Hedge Fund”) and Refco (see BW Online, 10/17/05, “Refco’s Painful Lesson for Investors”). The Securities & Exchange Commission has charged an Ohio stock broker with collecting millions of dollars for an apparently bogus hedge fund — and then allegedly pouring those investors’ money into his coffee shop and a local community center, where his wife worked.
