Bloomberg – Let’s say you hand a million dollars or more to an investment advisory firm that boasts a sterling reputation, grand results and a promise to thoroughly investigate hedge funds before recommending them.
For all the claims of super due diligence, this fine firm sinks your money into what turns out to be a Ponzi scheme.
Now your money is gone and the hedge fund founder who lost it is serving 20 more than years. Federal regulators belatedly find that your adviser didn’t actually do that much due diligence.
The Bayou Group hedge fund it put you into hadn’t had an independent audit almost since its beginning when an initial auditor noticed consistent losses and was let go, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.