Eaglevale Partners

Eaglevale Partners, a hedge fund founded by three veterans of Goldman Sachs, acknowledged in a recent letter to its investors that it has made "incorrect" calls on Greece, and Eaglevale's main fund has taken hits as a consequence. A smaller fund within the firm's stable, one aimed specifically at Greek opportunities, has taken something more than a mere 'hit.' It has taken a clobbering, losing half its value last year.

This would not be news, outside of the hedge fund world anyway, except that one of the three founders of Eaglevale is Marc Mezvinsky, the husband of Chelsea Clinton, and thus the son-in-law of a formidable power couple. His partners are Bennett Grau (whose previous experience is in the commodities trading world chiefly) and Mark Mallon.

One of the investors in the dedicated Greek fund is Marc Lasry, a billionaire who has been a donor to Clinton family political campaigns.

I haven't said anything new here. The facts I've just stated have been well reported already in any number of outlets. But it inspires in me the need to comment. I am very glad that nobody yet has suggested a bail-out of Eaglevale. Things have gotten so bad that one almost reflexively expects that such a well-connected operation, small as its numbers are, would be deemed too big to fail, too essential to fail, too familial to fail, or something! The evidence thus far is that if Eaglevale doesn't up its game, it will be allowed to fail.

That isn't really banner celebratory news, but it's something.

Oh, and a happy valentines day to all loving couples out there. Including Chelsea and Marc.

I suppose her income as a late-night talk show host helps with household expenses, Oh, sorry, wrong Chelsea.

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