This week has been filled with dark allegations and recriminations against hedge funds over conspiracies to nefariously game markets to their own ends, without any evidence to support them. So you may have missed the final chapter in the actual conspiracy to game a market by a nefarious hedge fund manager, one Dan Kamensky of Marble Ridge Capital.
KAMENSKY, 48, of Roslyn, New York, pled guilty to one count of bankruptcy fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Sentencing has been scheduled for May 7, 2021.
And when it comes, it will almost certainly (federal sentencing guidelines call for 12 to 18 months; it’s possible that Kamensky’s lawyers will convince the judge to let him avoid an orange jumpsuit, although Kamensky hasn’t made the best impression on judges in the past) fulfill the prophecy he made on July 31 last year: “If you’re going to continue to tell them what you just told me, I’m going to jail, okay?” This ill-advised utterance came after an earlier ill-advised Bloomberg chat message demanding Jefferies not put in a bid on shares of Neiman Marcus’ e-commerce business on behalf of another client, as he was hoping to buy them for substantially less, to the benefit of his hedge fund but rather not to that of Neiman’s other unsecured creditors, who he also just happened to represent (and have a fiduciary duty to) on the creditors’ committee, and like that message was recorded for posterity and prosecutors and prophecy-fulfilling purposes. But he’s definitely learned his lesson, which is not the only reason he won’t be doing it again.
Marble Ridge shut down and started returning money to investors in August after a U.S. government investigation found Kamensky, its managing partner, at fault for trying to interfere with Neiman’s auction of assets in bankruptcy…. As part of a separate settlement with the U.S. trustee, an arm of the Justice Department that monitors corporate bankruptcies, Kamensky agreed to pay $1.4 million to cover attorney fees related to the investigation of his conduct and agreed not to try to collect any debt Neiman Marcus may owe him until other creditors are repaid. He also agreed to make $100,000 in charitable donations and perform 200 hours of community service. Kamensky has agreed never to serve on another official bankruptcy committee.
New York Hedge Fund Founder Pleads Guilty to Bankruptcy Fraud In Connection With Neiman Marcus Bankruptcy [press release]
Marble Ridge Capital Founder Admits to Neiman Fraud [Bloomberg]