Billionaire Leon Cooperman, founder of hedge fund Omega Advisors, told clients that his firm has been subpoenaed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey and the Securities and Exchange Commission, seeking information on trading in certain securities.
“These inquiries are at a very early stage, and no one at Omega has been accused of any wrongdoing,” Mr. Cooperman said in a letter to investors dated March 24. He said Omega is cooperating with both agencies and “is highly confident that it and its employees have at all times acted properly and lawfully.”
Mr. Cooperman declined to comment on the letter when contacted by Bloomberg News. Matthew Reilly, a spokesman for Paul Fishman, the U.S. attorney in New Jersey, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment. Florence Harmon, an SEC spokeswoman, declined to comment.
Mr. Cooperman founded Omega in 1991 after spending 25 years at Goldman Sachs & Co., where he was chief of its asset management unit. Omega has $9.4 billion in assets under management.
“Had the authorities asked us to do so, we would have voluntarily provided them with all the information they seek, but they chose instead to pursue a different tack,” Mr. Cooperman said in the letter.
Omega has returned an annual average of about 10.3% since inception on Dec. 31, 1991, according to an HSBC Holdings report. That compares with 9.4% for the Standard & Poor’s 500 index with dividends reinvested.
