Posted on 10/05/2006 10:04:13 PM PDT by neverdem
Two years ago, Andrew M. Cuomo put more than half of his campaign treasury into a hedge fund, making him one of the few New York politicians to invest campaign money in anything riskier than a sure bet.
In the case of Mr. Cuomo, the Democratic candidate for attorney general, the hedge fund was directed by one of his largest financial backers, a man who also handled Mr. Cuomo’s personal money. The investment of $750,000 turned out to be all upside, with a return of nearly 20 percent after one year.
Mr. Cuomo’s experience is a rarity in an arena where most campaigns, focused on their short-term needs, keep their money in conservative vehicles like savings accounts.
Investing campaign money in hedge funds also presents special concerns, government watchdogs say, because of their unregulated nature. Given the secrecy of such funds, who can say, they ask, whether a high return reflects a smart bet or simply a campaign supporter’s efforts to evade contribution limits by padding the return of a favored campaign account.
“There’s no way to know what’s going on with a hedge fund,” said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a Washington-based nonpartisan group that works to reduce the influence of money in politics. “The candidate knows, and the hedge fund manager knows, but the public doesn’t.”
In Mr. Cuomo’s case, one of the hedge fund’s three founders, his wife and officers of the fund — known as EnTrust Capital Partners L.P. — have donated nearly $175,000 to the last two Cuomo campaigns.
Mr. Cuomo’s campaign said that the EnTrust fund was “low volatility,” adding that Mr. Cuomo had not received any guarantee of positive returns.
Wendy Katz, a spokeswoman for the campaign, wrote in an e-mail message to The New York Times, “The rationale for investing campaign...”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
President Hillary Clinton can select him as Secretary of the Treasury.
First I've heard of a politician investing campaign money that will be needed in the near future in something as risky as a hedge fund. Lucky for him it was not the hedge fund that invested in natural gas and lost about 75% of its value. One of the rules of investing is, put money you will need in the short term into high risk stuff.
She doesn't need to. Her expertise in the commodity futures markets makes Cuomo's return chump change.
When she is elected, the budget deficit in fact the entire national debt is going to be wiped out because she will put all of our federal tax receipts on pork bellies, or is it orange juice, futures.
just think back to when the piaps made $100,000 from $1,000 in cattle futures....
with her ankles..anything bovine is right up her alley...actually one would have thought she would have been and probably is a pork belly expert as well...
Right, lots of “low volatility” funds make 20% a year.
Cuomo is so crooked, Jeanine Pirro laughs at him.
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