Chelsea Clinton’s husband and his partners have suffered a huge loss after trying to bet on the revival of the Greek economy, and are now being forced to shut down one of their hedge funds.
Marc Mezvinsky, 38, and his partners, former Goldman Sachs colleagues Bennett Grau and Mark Mallon, raised $25million from investors to buy up bank stocks and debt from the struggling nation.
That fund however has lost 90 percent of its value, investors with direct knowledge of the situation told The New York Times, and will now be closed.
Eaglevale Partners was started in 2011 by Mezvinsky and his partners, with their former boss, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein, one of the first investors.
The flagship fund currently manages $330 million and is down 1 percent this year.
Mezvinsky was long gone from his job at Goldman in October 2013 when his mother-in-law Hillary was paid to give a speech to executives at the company during a technology conference in Arizona.
She was reportedly paid $225,000 for that appearance.
There had been news of trouble with the company’s Greek bet for some time now, which was called the Eaglevale Hellenic Opportunity.
The Wall Street Journal reported in February 2015 that Eaglevalle said in a letter to investors that year that they had been ‘incorrect’ to bet on Greece and that is why the company had lost money two of the three years prior.
The main fund dropped 3.6% in 2014, fained just 2.06% in 2013 and lost 1.96% in 2012.
The situation in the country last year likely only made things worse, with Greece having to be saved from the brink of economic collapse at the last second thanks to a bailout.
But good news for the people working at the hedge fund, as most funds collect management fees meaning money comes in even if funds lose money.
Shortly after starting Eagleville, Mezvinsky and Chelsea moved into a $10million New York City apartment opposite Madison Square Park.
The four-bedroom, 5,000-square-foot apartment is one of only four residences in the building, which despite the low occupancy rate still has a full-time doorman.
The apartment, whose hallways stretch a full city block, also has two dishwashers, two washer and dryers, dressing rooms with double-sided vanity mirrors, and two massive walk-in closets.
The bedrooms meanwhile face right into Vera Wang’s bridal design studio, who designed Cheslea’s dress for her wedding day.
Chelsea, 36, has stayed busy this past year campaigning for her mother while also working for the Clinton Foundation.
She and her husband have a daughter Charlotte and are expecting a second child later this year.
Chelsea Clinton’s husband is reportedly closing his Greek hedge fund. The news from Marc Mezvinsky comes after the fund is said to have lost 90 percent of its value.
“It was a hedge fund portfolio pitched by Hillary Clinton’s son-in-law, Marc Mezvinsky, as an opportunity to bet on a Greek economic revival,” the New York Times reports.
“Now, two years later, the Greece-focused fund is shutting down, after losing nearly 90 percent of its value, according to two investors with direct knowledge of the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“Investors were told last month that the fund would close. The fund, Eaglevale Hellenic Opportunity, had raised $25 million from investors to buy Greek bank stocks and government debt.
“Eaglevale Partners, a Manhattan hedge fund firm founded by Mr. Mezvinsky and two former Goldman Sachs colleagues, raised money for the Hellenic fund at a time when some on Wall Street had hopes for a revival in the Greek economy. For a time, Mr. Mezvinsky appeared at hedge fund conferences promoting the Greece investment thesis.”
The fund failed despite high profile boosters. “Some of the firm’s earliest investors were Goldman partners, including Lloyd C. Blankfein, Goldman’s chief executive officer, who let Eaglevale use his name in marketing the flagship fund.
“It is not clear why Eaglevale waited until this year to close the Hellenic fund, which already had lost about 40 percent of its value by early last year.”