Portus Investors to Get More Loonies Back

Date: Thursday, January 3, 2008
Author: Paula Schaap, HedgeFund.net

Investors in defunct Canadian hedge fund firm Portus Alternative Asset Management are due to get another CAN $12.5 million ($12.6 million) as its co-founder gets ready for his next court date.

An Ontario court last week gave the go-ahead to Portus receiver KPMG to disburse the funds to investors in some of Portus’ funds. KPMG has already returned CAN $120 million to investors who lost nearly CAN $800 million when the firm collapsed in 2005.

Portus’ co-founders Boaz Manor and Michael Mendelson were charged with fraud after investigators discovered that they were running what was essentially a Ponzi scheme. Mendelson pleaded guilty last year. He was offered a reduced term of two years in exchange for testifying against his former partner.

Manor is due back in court January 21. He was on the lam for two years, most recently hiding out in Israel before returning to Canada in November.

KPMG is still on the hunt for more Portus assets including about $8 million in gems that Manor allegedly bought with the firm’s money.