Pequot Capital Management's Rise and Fall

Pequot Capital Management was founded in 1993 by Arthur Samberg, a former Goldman Sachs trader.

The firm quickly gained a reputation for its aggressive trading strategies, which involved using complex algorithms to identify market trends.

Pequot's success was largely due to its proprietary trading platform, which allowed the firm to execute trades at high speeds and with low latency.

By 2001, Pequot had grown to over $8 billion in assets under management, making it one of the largest hedge funds in the industry.

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Pequot Capital Management was founded in 1998 by Arthur J. Samberg.

The firm was based in Westport, Connecticut, with additional offices in several major cities across the United States and the United Kingdom.

By 2001, Pequot had grown to become the largest hedge fund globally, with a staggering $15 billion in assets.

Pequot's venture capital business, Pequot Ventures, was spun off into a separate company on June 30, 2008.

This new company, FirstMark Capital, was based in New York City and took control of Pequot Ventures' existing venture capital portfolio assets.

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Pequot Capital Management, a prominent hedge fund firm, announced it would shut down its doors in 2009.

The firm's founder, Arthur Samberg, made the decision due to a revived government insider-trading investigation that had cast a cloud over the firm.

Samberg wrote in a letter that the investigation had become a source of personal distraction and had made it increasingly untenable for the firm to stay in business.

Pequot managed $3 billion at the time of its shutdown.

The firm's trading in 2001 on behalf of the Core Funds had been the subject of investigations by the SEC and US Attorney's Office.

Those agencies closed their investigations in 2006 without bringing any charges, but Pequot suffered from adverse publicity nonetheless.

In late 2008, the government reopened its investigation, which ultimately led to the firm's decision to shut down.

Pequot had a long-term track record of success, with one of its funds earning a net annualized 16.8% return over 22 years.

However, the firm's shutdown was not without controversy, with the SEC awarding $1 million to Glen Kaiser and Karen Kaiser for providing information leading to the settlement.

The firm's shutdown also led to a whistleblower case being won by one of the investigators, Gary J. Aguirre, who had been fired when he recommended that the investigation proceed further.

Arthur Samberg, the founder of Pequot Capital Management, was accused of insider trading in a high-profile probe. He was alleged to have used non-public information to trade on stocks.

In 2003, the SEC launched an investigation into Pequot Capital's trading activities, focusing on trades made in companies like ImClone Systems and Sunbeam Products. This investigation led to a major overhaul of the firm's trading practices.

Arthur Samberg was accused of using a friend's account to trade on ImClone Systems stock before a negative FDA ruling, allowing him to avoid a significant loss.

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Samberg began his career in the investment industry as an analyst at Kidder, Peabody & Co. in New York City.

He was the first professional hire at the start-up investment management company Weiss, Peck & Greer in 1970, and during his 15-year tenure, the firm grew to $8 billion in assets under management.

Samberg later assumed a partner role and served on the management committee during his last five years with the firm.

In 1985, he founded and became the president of Dawson–Samberg Capital Management, Inc. in Southport, Connecticut.

The company established the first Pequot hedge fund the following year, which initially lost 20 percent before becoming successful in subsequent years.

By 2001, Pequot was the largest hedge fund globally with $15 billion in assets under management.

Samberg and co-founder Daniel C. Benton decided to split their hedge fund, each taking $7.5 billion in assets, with Samberg's firm keeping the Pequot name.

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Since joining in 2003, Samberg was a life member of the MIT Corporation and a member of its executive committee.

He also served as chairman of the MIT Investment Management Company and sat on the board of the MIT Energy Initiative.

Samberg's firm, Pequot Capital Management, was the subject of a SEC investigation from 2004 to 2010, which was eventually resolved with a settlement.

As of 2008, Pequot managed approximately $5 billion in assets.

In 2009, Samberg decided to shut down Pequot Capital, but continued to manage his family's holdings through Hawkes Financial.