On December 3, Roddy Boyd reported that Ralph Cioffi wanted to leave Bear Stearns, but that the bank didn’t want him to leave.
Well, it looks like he got his wish. Cioffi left Bear last week, albeit not in the manner he might have wanted: he’s being investigated by both the U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn and the Securities and Exchange Commission, who reckon that his March withdrawal of $2 million from his doomed Bear Stearns hedge fund looks a little suspicious.
How news of the probe will affect Cioffi’s attempts to set up his own hedge-fund shop is not clear, although it can’t exactly help. But in a world where Peter Bacanovic can become the CEO of a high-profile luxury-goods company, anything is possible.