Credit Suisse: Hedge Funds Post Negative Returns in May

HedgeCo News - Hedge fund performance was negative across most strategies in May, according to Jordan Drachman, Head of Research for Alternative Beta Strategies at Credit Suisse.

"The Credit Suisse Liquid Alternative Beta Index (CSLAB) generated negative performance in May, returning -2.64% for the month, bringing year-to-date performance to +0.27%." Dr. Drachman said, "All four Liquid Alternative Beta (LAB) sector indices also posted negative performance in May, suggesting that hedge fund managers across different strategies suffered as a result of the month's increased market volatility. Despite negative returns, hedge funds appear to have outperformed global equity markets, as represented by the MSCI World Index, which lost -9.91% in May and is down 7.59% year-to-date."

LAB is a series of indices that seek to replicate the aggregate return profiles of alternative investment strategies using liquid, tradable instruments that are selected and weighted using an objective and transparent rules-based methodology. An algorithm determines the appropriate factors and weightings employed in seeking to replicate the returns of specific hedge fund strategies.

"Hedge Fund Manager" on the Run From FBI Arrested in Poland

HedgeCo News - An American fugitive, Alexsander Efrosman, also known as Alex Besser, has been arrested in Krakow, Poland, the Associated Press reports.

The Polish police arrested the Staten Island "hedge fund manager", who is wanted by the FBI for fraud and money laundering.

AP reports that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission alleges that Efrosman/Besser stole about $5 million from customers of two fraudulent hedge funds that he claimed to manage, Century Maxim Fund, Inc. and AJR Capital Inc.

The commission says that investors were shown fake financial statements for trades that never occurred and the fake earnings were used in the solicitation of new investors to his hedge funds.