Top hedge fund managers face lawmakers (Reuters)

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Top hedge fund managers face lawmakers
Thu Nov 13, 2008 2:38am EST

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

BOSTON (Reuters) - Five of the world's richest and most
powerful hedge fund managers will face a U.S. Congressional
panel on Thursday that wants to know if the secretive
industry poses risks to the financial system.

John Paulson, George Soros, Philip Falcone, James Simons
and Kenneth Griffin were scheduled to testify at the House
of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform about the role of hedge funds in financial markets
and their regulatory and tax status.

Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat,
asked the men to testify because each earned more than $1
billion each last year. The hearing, due to begin at 1000 ET,
is the latest in a series Waxman is holding to investigate
the causes and effects of the financial crisis.

The hearing comes at a time when several lawmakers have
suggested the loosely regulated $1.7 trillion industry will
face new regulations. Hedge funds, which are delivering their
worst-ever returns this year, have been widely blamed for
helping bring down two major U.S. investment banks and for
having kicked stock prices lower in the last weeks.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE4AC1GK20081113

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1. Thanks! K&R nt