The Future of Hedge Fund Investing: A Regulatory and Structural Solution for a Fallen Industry

CHAPTER 1

Recent Hedge Fund Scandals

PALM BEACH, FLORIDA

Palm Beach, Florida, is home to some of the highest net worth individuals in the country. This community has been investing in hedge funds for several decades and unfortunately has also been a target of several scam artists. As Palm Beach has featured in several financial scams and scandals in the press of late, it behooves me to delve a little bit deeper into the makeup of its denizens and the psychology of the society. I believe that it will help in understanding the way people generally approach investing and the overreliance on relationships rather than due diligence.

The island of Palm Beach is an exclusive community that runs about fourteen miles in length, but most of the multimillion-dollar mansions are located in a two-mile stretch along South Ocean Boulevard. It is often confused with West Palm Beach, but once you cross one of the three bridges connecting Palm Beach island to West Palm Beach you quickly realize that there is little in common between Palm Beach and what lies OTB (“over the bridge” in Palm Beach lingo). Palm Beach serves as a summer home for the super-rich Wall Street tycoons, industrialists, recording artists, and European aristocracy. While deserted almost six months of the summer, the height of the hurricane season in Florida, it comes to life from October to April. The lavish and umpteen charitable galas held every year at the Breakers Hotel and Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club are a must-attend ...