The $5 billion hedge fund Millennium Partners, led by storied investor Israel A. Englander, reached a $180 million settlement today with New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and the Securities & Exchange Commission to settle charges of elaborate mutual fund trading fraud. Millennium is the first hedge fund to reach an agreement with regulators regarding mutual fund timing since Canary Capital Partners in 2003.
All of that $180 million will go toward restitution for the mutual fund shareholders, according to a press release issued by the attorney general’s office. “Millennium developed multiple schemes that cost mutual fund investors tens of millions of dollars,” Spitzer said. “Restitution will be made to investors who were harmed.” Millennium declined comment.
FORTUNE first revealed the details of Millennium’s schemes in its November 14 story, “Damaged Goods,” about Englander, a 57-year old billionaire, and his gargantuan fund. Millennium has netted investorsâ€â€including pensions and charities–an average of 17% a year since it started in 1989.
