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Are Blind Trust and Greed the Two Worst Qualities in Investing?

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greedOn Monday I told you about a former public employee losing $25 million when he left to work at a hedge fund. Here is another completely separate case of a failure in trust. Both are examples of the blind trust and greed that are the undoing of so many investors.

A businessman who is a focus of a federal corruption probe into the New York Police Department and Mayor Bill de Blasio’s fundraising helped arrange an investment of at least $10 million in a hedge-fund firm by the city’s correction officers’ union, people familiar with the matter said.

Jona Rechnitz, a Brooklyn real-estate investor, referred Norman Seabrook, the president of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, to Platinum Partners, the people said.

The investment put a large percentage of the union’s money in a firm that has had a mixed stretch. Platinum generally has reported steady returns. Last December it blocked investors from withdrawing some of their money in one fund that contains hard-to-sell assets, according to people familiar with the matter. Such moves have been rare in the hedge-fund world since the financial crisis.

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NYC Correction Officers Union Chief Arrested

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West (RIP JB) and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.

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