Falcone's Hedge Fund Takes a LightSquared Beating Loses 47% of Value Thanks to GPS Woes Anonymous investors tell The New York Times that billionaire hedge fund manager and LightSquared backer Philip A. Falcone didn't have a very good 2011. Falcone's hedge fund, Harbinger Capital Partners, lost 46.6 percent of its value last year as LightSquared ran face first into political headaches and GPS interference concerns. "The investors who remain in the fund are not happy with the results, but at least some who spoke on condition of anonymity saw it coming," says reporter Azam Ahmen. "One felt that the valuation was overly rosy for too long." LightSquared's fortunes don't look to be improving anytime soon, and Falcone continues to face several SEC investigations.
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 | |  Falcone making strident news releases as jail in future
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|  |  SteveI know your IP addressConsultant
join:2001-03-10
Yorba Linda, CA
kudos:5 | Re: Falcone making strident news releases as jail in future said by fAcEtIOUs: And the SEC & DOJ will be breathing down his neck looking to throw his butt in jail. Is it a crime to make a bad investment? Or have there been claims of actual funny business by the hedge fund? | |
| | | | | Re: Falcone making strident news releases as jail in future said by Steve:said by fAcEtIOUs: And the SEC & DOJ will be breathing down his neck looking to throw his butt in jail. Is it a crime to make a bad investment? Or have there been claims of actual funny business by the hedge fund? »www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-0···bet.html
In December, the Securities and Exchange Commission told Falcone it is considering suing him and two other fund executives over alleged violations of securities laws. As a result of the potential suit, Falcone said he would suspend client withdrawals for a second time in three years.
SEC Investigation
The SEC is investigating whether Harbinger gave some investors preferential treatment by allowing them to withdraw money while barring others from doing so. Harbinger is also being investigated by the SEC and the U.S. Attorney’s office over a $113 million loan Falcone took from one of his funds.
The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, I'm from the government and I'm here to help.
»www.politico.com/2012-election/
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| | | Reviews:
 ·RoadRunner Cable
| said by Steve:said by fAcEtIOUs: And the SEC & DOJ will be breathing down his neck looking to throw his butt in jail. Is it a crime to make a bad investment? Or have there been claims of actual funny business by the hedge fund? All of Wall St. is funny business. | |
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| | Stick a fork in 'em This entire venture was a Hail Mary pass from the outset, but it got some traction when major carriers like Sprint signed on. Now, we can argue all day whose fault the GPS interference is, but the fact remains that it's a huge problem that will cost a whole lot of money to solve. Had LightSquared offered to pony up the cash to implement a solution, they might have had a chance of, if not getting the GPS industry and its users on board, at least looking sympathetic enough to get a spectrum swap out of the deal, which is rumored to be what they wanted in the first place. Instead, they offered solutions that might or might not work and then demanded that the folks already using GPS pay to implement them. Not smart on LightSquared's part. They'd already ticked these people off by planning to deploy something that everyone agrees will degrade GPS to some degree, and then they made it worse by demanding that GPS users pay to fix a mess that many argue is being created by LightSquared themselves. I'm no expert on anything (though I play one on the Internet), but even I know that you don't spit in the faces of that many companies, government agencies, and end users and hope to win. Sure, LightSquared had support from some carriers, but those carriers can always look at other options if necessary, so they'll only stand by LightSquared as long as the business model seems sound, and, right now, it's looking about as solid as a grass hut in a hurricane.
In short, LightSquared looks like the drunk asshole who wanders into a bar for the first time and decides to pick a fight with all the regulars in the place...all at once. Not smart, not smart at all. | |
| |  r81984Fair and BalancedPremium
join:2001-11-14
Katy, TX | Re: Stick a fork in 'em Actually spring did not sign on to use LS network.
LS signed on to use sprints network and to pay sprint for it.
Sprint gave them no traction.
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| | | | | Re: Stick a fork in 'em Actually LS had a contract with Sprint for Sprint to build out the LS networked. | |
| | | | | | Re: Stick a fork in 'em True, but having Sprint's name associated with them lent them credibility that they wouldn't have had otherwise. | |
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guppy_fishPremium
join:2003-12-09
Lakeland, FL
kudos:1 | whaaa Bummer, some rich A-holes are not going to get bailed out and might actually lose money in a hedge fund, oh the horrors  | |
| | Reviews:
·RoadRunner Cable
| Re: whaaa said by guppy_fish:Bummer, some rich A-holes are not going to get bailed out and might actually lose money in a hedge fund, oh the horrors
Doubtful. Rich people don't lose money.
Most probably used cash loaned to a company that is declaring bankruptcy or some vile shit like that. | |
| | | | | Re: whaaa Exactly. When you're rich enough, a certain number of people believe you must've gotten that way because you know what you're doing, so they're willing to lend you their money so they can be rich, too. Most times, it never works out for the poor rubes because few rich people got that way by sharing the big profits. They end up keeping most for themselves while the suckers see maybe a small return. Either that, or the rich person is a scammer who takes everyone for a ride, loses their money, but still manages to somehow keep some for themselves. | |
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 n2jtx
join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY
·Optimum Online
| I Guess They Have Hope Bloomberg, IIRC, was reporting that a retired general working for LightSquared has approached the government about getting a frequency swap (surprise, surprise). As long suspected, they want to do an end-run around the auction process and taxpayers and get valuable terrestrial spectrum for their less valuable satellite spectrum all in the guise of protecting GPS.
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I support the right to keep and arm bears. | |
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