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by Baz Hiralal
William Galvin, the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, fined Citigroup Inc. $2 million in connection with improper analyst disclosures of confidential information related to Facebook Inc.'s initial public offering. Citigroup was also part of the underwriting consortia for the offering. High-profile Internet analyst Mark Mahaney lost his job for not monitoring an analyst under his watch. According to a court document, the blame lied with a "junior analyst" that divulged proprietary Citi research on Facebook to two TechCrunch writers, who were "friends" of the junior analyst and that all kept in touch using social media and live in the Bay Area. The document also mentioned the junior analyst and one of the TechCrunch writers went to Stanford together. Citi fired the junior analyst in September. In one of the e-mail exchanges, the junior analyst responded to one of the reporters' request to publish the documents by saying, "My boss would eat me alive."
Mahaney was cut for failing to monitor the junior analyst. He joined Citigroup in 2005 and has been covering Internet stocks since 1998. He has been ranked No. 1 in both the Greenwich Institutional Investor Poll and the Institutional Investor Poll for the Internet sector, and the No. 1 Earnings Estimator and the No. 1 Stock Picker in the Internet retail segment by the Financial Times and StarMine. Prior to Citi, he worked on the sell-side and the buy-side at American Technology Research, Morgan Stanley and Galleon Capital. Earlier, he worked at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Senate and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
London-based EQI Asset Management hired Ben Sofoluwe as a trader, equity finance. Sofoluwe just completed his gardening leave from Deutsche Bank AG, which he joined in 1999, and where he was most recently head of securities lending.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. LP opened a Singapore office, serving as the regional hub for Southeast Asia. It is led by Ming Lu, member and regional leader of Southeast Asia, and includes directors Kabir Mathur from Singapore and Ridha Wirakusumah from Indonesia.
Co-founder, co-chairman and co-CEO Henry Kravis noted in a statement, "Southeast Asia is KKR's second-largest investment destination in Asia after China." The firm said it sees opportunities in the region arising from the increase in domestic consumption; the development of the financial services industry; the increasing demand for better and improved infrastructure; and opportunities from noncore carve-outs and corporate divestitures as well as divestments from state-owned enterprises; and, increasing growth and generational change opportunities with entrepreneurs.
Phoenix Investment Adviser, specializing in high-yield corporate debt, tapped Peter Hughes as a senior research analyst. He will cover the technology, business services, retail, restaurant, and metals and mining sectors. Hughes was a director at Citi Capital Advisors, where he focused on identifying long and short investment opportunities in high-yield and investment grade cash bonds, credit default swaps, and leveraged loans across sectors including technology, telecom, homebuilding and transportation. He previously worked at Credit Suisse Group, where he recommended risk management strategies for the firm's internal bank loan portfolio and invested in the group's proprietary CDS trading book.
Paladyne Systems, a Broadridge Financial Solutions company, enlisted Paul Cucurullo as senior director of sales to lead its offering for long-only asset managers and investment advisers. He was a regional sales manager at BNY Mellon subsidiary Eagle Investment Systems LLC and was previously a managing partner, co-founder and director of business development for IX Partners, which in 2009 was sold to Genpact Ltd.'s Headstrong, an offshore consulting firm. Before that, Cucurullo spent almost seven years as chief information officer at Ark Asset Management.
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP said a team of white-collar attorneys from White & Case LLP, led by former acting U.S. Attorney General and deputy Attorney General George Terwilliger III, will join the firm's litigation practice in Washington. Joining as partners, along with Terwilliger, are Daniel Levin, Matthew Miner and Robert Bittman.
Terwilliger was a presidential appointee in two administrations who also had a decade of experience as a federal prosecutor. He was the senior Justice Department official on counter-terrorism during the 1991 Persian Gulf War and its representative to the National Security Council during the crisis and subsequent conflict.
Levin has been senior associate counsel to the president and legal adviser to the National Security Council; acting assistant attorney general, Office of Legal Counsel; chief of staff to Attorney General William Barr; chief of staff to FBI Director Robert Mueller; assistant U.S. Attorney, central district of California; trial attorney, DOJ Environmental Crimes Section; counselor to Attorney General John Ashcroft; an associate deputy Attorney General; and counselor to Northern District of California U.S. Attorney Robert Mueller.
Miner served with the U.S. Senate as minority staff director to the Senate Judiciary Committee and as majority chief counsel for crime, terrorism and oversight to the same Committee. He also served as counsel to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
Bittman served as deputy independent counsel for the Office of Independent Counsel Ken Starr and was previously an assistant State's Attorney in Annapolis , Md.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. LP opened a Singapore office, serving as the regional hub for Southeast Asia. It is led by Ming Lu.
