Joe Femenia, the head of distressed-debt trading at Jefferies Financial Group Inc., set in motion one of the most astonishing falls-from-grace to captivate the world of hedge funds, Bloomberg News reported. The 43-year-old former Navy SEAL is the unidentified executive outlined in court filings last week, whose taped conversation led to the swift downfall of Dan Kamensky’s Marble Ridge Capital. Kamensky allegedly tried pushing Femenia to abstain from submitting a rival bid for part of bankrupt retailer Neiman Marcus. But instead, Femenia raised alarms, providing enough details on the incident to a U.S. trustee to threaten Kamensky’s standing in the industry. By the end of last week, Kamensky had acknowledged he committed a “grave mistake” and his firm told investors it’s shutting down. Kamensky told the U.S. Trustee that his messages were “motivated by panic” that the Jefferies bid would interfere with his own proposal for the shares.
