(Note: This is a story from the Sunday New York Times that further advances the piece I first wrote about here. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. If Tuberville wins the nomination, it is all but certain that every major news outlet in the country will advance the story further, and that Tuberville will look even worse. Why? Here are the two key sentences from the NYT that show more is still to come: “The plaintiffs who were reached declined to comment, as did their lawyers. The New York Times asked the Tuberville campaign to release the plaintiffs from the settlement’s confidentiality agreement, but it did not agree to do so.”
Anyway, this article by reporter Danny Hakim ran July 5 in the NYT, with its headline calling the controversy Tuberville’s “hedge fund disaster.”)
Tommy Tuberville is known for his career as a college football coach. But he also had a brief stint as co-owner of a hedge fund. It did not go well.
A little more than a decade ago, after departing from Auburn University where he was head coach, Mr. Tuberville entered into a 50-50 partnership with a former Lehman Brothers broker named John David Stroud. Their ventures, which included TS Capital Management and TS Capital Partners — T for Tuberville and S for Stroud — turned out to be a financial fraud. Mr. Stroud was sentenced to 10 years in prison, and Mr. Tuberville was sued by investors, who accused him of fraud and violating his fiduciary duty to take care of their investments; he reached a private settlement in 2013….
A review of public court records shows that Tuberville had a broader role. While he was not picking stocks, or even a frequent presence in the office, Mr. Tuberville made introductions to potential investors, had business cards identifying himself as managing partner, and leased a BMW and got his health insurance through the company. Its offices in Auburn were filled with his coaching memorabilia. In 2010, he traveled to New York with Mr. Stroud to meet potential brokers for the fund, and was kept in the loop on decisions about hiring, according to email traffic….
[The full news article is here.]
