Canadian Hedge Fund Manager Barred For Immigration Fraud

Date: Monday, April 6, 2009
Author: FINalternatives.com

A San Francisco hedge fund manager has found himself ensnared in the U.S. immigration bureaucracy.

Peter Kuperman, a Canadian who works for the QED Benchmark Fund, has been barred from the U.S. for immigration fraud, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian, the student newspaper at Kuperman’s alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania. The U.S. consulate in Toronto alleges that Kuperman had failed to renew his employment visa, meaning he was working in the country illegally.

“This is so far from normalcy and reality,” Kuperman told the DP. “It is laughable that someone of my standing in the community would be sent with this punishment.”

Kuperman said he applied for the proper visa, and on Jan. 23 was told by the U.S. Consulate in Toronto that his application had been approved and that he should travel to Canada’s largest city on Feb. 7 to get the visa. But after a meeting at the consulate two days later, he was detained and asked to provide documentation on his stays in the U.S. over the prior 18 months, a period during which the consulate determined he had not renewed his visa.

According to the DP, Kuperman’s case has been referred to the visa advisory unit in Washington. But that process can take several months, and until it has been resolved, Kuperman has been advised to stay away from the U.S.