A bankruptcy judge in Texas raised the question of whether the findings of an investigation into Marble Ridge founder Dan Kamensky should be referred to federal prosecutors to determine whether the investment manager committed a crime, Bloomberg Law reported. At the end of a court hearing on Friday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David R. Jones asked lawyers for the Office of the U.S. Trustee, an arm of the Department of Justice that deals with bankruptcy matters, whether they had given the results of their probe into Kamensky to federal prosecutors. The Trustee’s office said on Wednesday that the hedge fund manager had improperly tried to stop another bidder from buying some of Neiman Marcus Group Inc.’s best assets in the department store’s bankruptcy case. When told by a lawyer for the Office of the U.S. Trustee that it wasn’t clear whether prosecutors are involved, Judge Jones said that he will set a further court hearing on the matter. Kamensky declined to comment.
In related news, Marble Ridge Capital LP, a hedge-fund firm known for investing in distressed companies, is shutting down after a government inquiry found that founder Dan Kamensky tried to suppress bidding for a piece of bankrupt retailer Neiman Marcus Group Ltd, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. A spokesman for Marble Ridge said on Friday that it is “winding down.” The decision marks a stunning fall for Kamensky, who built a reputation sifting through the subprime mortgage meltdown, founded Marble Ridge in 2015 and grew it to a firm with roughly $1 billion in assets under management. Since 2018, Kamensky has waged a legal campaign against Neiman’s private-equity backers, helping snare a big settlement that became his undoing. On Wednesday, watchdogs from the Justice Department concluded that Kamensky had secretly coerced a major investment bank not to bid for shares in Neiman’s e-commerce business, MyTheresa, that are part of that deal. Read more.
