There are many points on Anthony Scaramucci’s heroic journey from Port Washington to, uh, an even nicer part of Long Island, that could be pinpointed as the moment he arrived and fully self-actualized as the Mooch, the man we’d grow to know and love as the hedge fund industry’s premier emcee and the shortest-serving White House press secretary in history. Was it when he managed to leverage a B.A. from Tufts into a J.D. from Harvard? When he got that first job at Goldman Sachs? When he got fired from the same? When he sold his first money-management business? When he founded SkyBridge in 2005? When he weathered—barely—the financial crisis? When he launched SALT in 2009?
The truth is, even after those Moochy milestones, Scaramucci remained as small a fry as his 5’ 8” stature until, faking it until he made it through smoke and mirrors wheeled a deal for Citigroup’s fund of hedge funds business—then three times the size of SkyBridge—in 2010, Citi having realized some years earlier than Scaramucci that the fund of hedge funds business was not worth being in.
And for a decade since, the relationship between Citi and its former funds of funds—now operating under the M.O.O.C.H. System—remained strong, through West Palm Beach bike shares and restaurant reviews that would make even Guy Fieri flinch; through cringingly bad analogies and acknowledgments that sometimes Scaramucci is too distracted by other things to pay attention to his business; through the Mooch’s enthusiastic boarding of the Trump train to his exit therefrom; from his failures at getting divorced, selling Skybridge, getting a White House job and keeping a White House job; through the many sitcom-like permutations of his not-so-triumphant return to the fund of hedge funds business; through the cancellation of SALT and its return and then cancellation again; through the not-particularly-well-received suggestion that hedge funds need bailout money, too. Through it all, Citi has stuck by Scaramucci. But a 22% drop during the worst quarter in market history? This is the bridge too far for Citi and its old fund of funds.
Citigroup Inc.’s private bank decided to sever its relationship with Anthony Scaramucci’s SkyBridge Capital and expects to see clients redeem $100 million over time, said a person familiar with the matter…. The person said Citigroup thinks the fund has too much exposure to credit and mortgage-related securities and expects clients will follow its recommendation they redeem….
Mr. Scaramucci said in a statement many Citigroup clients remain invested. “We are keeping an open mind, value our relationship with Citi and hope they will revise their decision in time.”
Citigroup Cutting Ties With Anthony Scaramucci’s Hedge Fund of Funds [WSJ]