A hedge fund managed by the investment firm of Alphonse "Buddy" Fletcher Jr. has filed for bankruptcy protection in Manhattan, as the firm faces a mounting legal challenge, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The chapter 11 filing comes after a Cayman Islands judge in April appointed liquidators from Ernst & Young to wind up another fund run by New York-based Fletcher Asset Management. In the early 1990s, Fletcher made a splash on Wall Street, reporting 300 percent-a-year returns at his firm. The Ernst & Young liquidators were appointed after three Louisiana public pension funds that had invested with the Fletcher firm sought help from the Cayman court in January to get their money after other efforts last year failed, according to the pension funds' petition.
