Last month, the New York Times ran this piece about the Managed Funds Association, launched by trader James Chanos:
Hedge Funds Step Up Efforts to Avert Tougher Rules
First hedge funds battled the markets. Now they are battling Washington.
After a tumultuous run for many of these funds, this normally secretive corner of Wall Street is mobilizing its money and power to fend off tougher oversight, higher taxes and much greater transparency.
If you read the rest of that article, neither that lead nor that headline make sense.
That Times headline looks much sillier in light of yesterday’s Reuters story:
Famed hedge fund manager James Chanos, best known for his early spotting of Enron’s flaws, called on Wednesday for Congress to pass a law requiring Securities and Exchange Commission regulation of hedge funds and other investment firms.
Chanos, head of Kynikos Associates, applauded legislation submitted last month by Sen. Jack Reed, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee’s subcommittee on securities, that would require advisers of hedge funds, venture capital and private equity funds to register with the SEC.
In testimony to the subcommittee on Wednesday, Chanos said lawmakers should go even further to introduce oversight over private investment funds.
It’s worth recalling that back when the MFA went big time in 2007, at the urging of Chuck Schumer, it hired as its president Rep. Richard Baker, R-La.–the first congressman who ever sponsored regulation of hedge funds.
