Meriwether: 3 Times a Charm?

• Joshua M Brown
• October 23rd, 2009

My pal Trader Mark posted the news that John Meriwether, aka the Master of Disaster, is launching a new investment vehicle. 

I'll link over to that story in a moment, but if his name doesn't ring a bell, Meriwether was the genius behind Long-Term Capital Management, a hedge fund with so much leverage and derivative exposure, it almost crushed the global stock and bond market when it collapsed in the late 90's.  All the major firms on The Street were corralled into a room and were coerced by Greenspan's Fed to bailout LTCM and it's investors (sound familiar?).

Meriwether then launched another hedge fund (JWM Partners) a few years back during the Age of Free Money, and that one also crashed and burned in 2008.

Undeterred, Meriwether is getting back into the game, seeking a third set of investors to finance his delusions of grandeur. 

Reuters blogger Jonathan Ford parodied what a letter to prospective investors could look like, here's a snippet:

My name is John Meriwether and I am a very wealthy financier in Greenwich, Conneticut, the economic capital of US. I have been managing investment funds for welthy business associates, taking advantage of relative value arbitrage strategies. This is 100 per cent guaranteed safe way to make double digit investment returns every year and was revealed only to me by internationally renowned Nobel prize winning economists. My track record – with LTCM and JMW Partners – speaks for itself.

If this guy gets funded, I vote to have interest rates tightened immediately worldwide.

Sources:

John Meriwether back again  (Fund My Mutual Fund)

Meriwether Writes to Investors  (Reuters)

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