ÖCheckFundManager.com Background Investigation Executive Summary      Case Study #2

                                                           

Joanne Pooges (The case is real, the names have been changed)

Pooges Investments
Boston, Mass.

                                                                                                                                       

 

Personal Data Summary

 

Ms. Pooges is 38 years old, married, and owns a $900,000 property in a Boston suburb. 12 years ago, in 1988, Ms. Pooges joined Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York and ran a fixed-income options desk.  After marrying, she and her husband lived apart as Ms. Pooges pursued her Wall Street career and Mr. Pooges sought tenure at Harvard. But in late 1993, pregnant with their first child, she moved to Boston and soon started her own hedge fund. Her principal company invested mainly in government debt around the world.   Her husband, Joseph is also in the investment field.   Her resume is impressive, yet seriously marred by actions that caused an international incident.   In 1995, she, her husband, and a few others obtained funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development and put together a plan to launch the first Russian mutual fund.  They also created the first Russian specialized depository for their own personal profit, which was in direct conflict with the terms of the U.S. government agency that funded their plan.    In addition to the $120 million federal suit, the event strained relations between the U.S. and Russia, and the World Bank, the Moscow Police, and the U.S. embassy in Russia were all involved in the matter.

 

Regulatory and Litigation Summary



Joanne Pooges named as a co-conspirator with her husband, Joseph Poobes in a Federal fraud case involving control of the first Russian Mutual Fund.  Harvard terminated their involvement, and the Federal Government sued Joanne, the conspirators, and Harvard for $120 million.  


 

Personal Data


removed

 

 

Media Releases

 

The title of one article found was “Harvard Men Built Russian Market, But Didn't Steer Clear of It”.  The Agency for International Development, or AID's conflict-of-interest rules say no employee may "make loans or investments to or in any business, profession or occupation" in project countries. Rules at the Harvard Institute for International Development, which oversaw the project for AID, are more specific: "HIID employees and members of their families may engage in no financial transactions or investments within the project country."

Typical of news stories found:

BOSTON (AP)--Two Harvard University officials who advised Russian officials on the country's transition to capitalism are being investigated to determine if they profited from stock investments,