Legal News

Father-and-son hedge fund managers hit with suit

By Richard Binder

A lawsuit has been filed by angry investors in a pair of small hedge funds catering to Silicon Valley Indian professionals.

The suit alleges that Vishwsas Godbole and his son Neil, who ran the funds, concocted a "systematic and organized family scheme" to conceal losses and to overcharge fees.  The Godboles, according to the suit, had told their investors in 2008 that Opulent and Opulent Lite were weathering the market crash without major damage.  A year later, however, they revealed that the funds' value had actually dropped by a combined $18 million. Almost $12 million of that was in the Opulent Lite fund, whose shares were worth about 50 percent less after they were restated.

Ramesh Sarva, a New York accountant who examined the books for the Godboles' lawyers, rejected the lawsuit's charge about fees, saying the Godboles didn't end up with "one penny" more than was due them.

The suit is now in arbitration.

Full story here.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on August 22, 2010 (boomark / email).