10/10/2018

Hedge Fund Investor Jacob Gottlieb Is Picking Up The Pieces From An Insider-Trader Scandal




Forty-six-year-old Jacob Gottlieb loves investing. He’s been in love with investing since the 7th grade. Gottlieb also loved school. He earned a degree in economics from Brown University. And then he earned a medical degree from New York University. Medicine and investing were his passions when he worked for St Vincent’s Hospital in New York City. Being on the front line of healthcare showed Jacob that his real calling was not prescribing drugs, but investing in healthcare companies. So he hung up his long white lab coat, and he went to work for Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Sanford C. Bernstein & Co focuses on healthcare industry investments.

Gottlieb decided to offer his investing talents to the Merlin Biomed Group for a short time, and then he joined Balyasny Asset Management. Balyasny gave him the credibility to start his own hedge fund firm. Jacob’s startup, Visium Asset Management became a reality in 2005. Visium was his baby, and that baby grew into an investment firm with more than $8 billion in assets under management.

Mr. Gottlieb partners, Stefan Lumiere, Sanjay Valvani, and Christopher Plaford, got caught breaking investment rules in 2016. The SEC and federal prosecutors put an end to their devious investment missteps that year. Visium, as well as Gottlieb, became causalities of that mayhem. Visium’s CFO Steven Ku was collateral damage. He had to pay a $100,000 fine for not doing his job. Gottlieb mission after the insider-trader fiasco was to shut down Visium and move on. Gottlieb decided to start Altium Capital in order to manage his money and to help clients invest in the healthcare industry. Jacob’s brother Mark is the Chief Operating Officer of Gottlieb’s new investment firm.

For the last two years, Jacob Gottlieb has methodically liquidated Visium portfolios. But he’s ready to get jump back into the hedge fund game with both feet, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article. Jacob thinks now is the time to start another healthcare hedge fund because a tremendous number of healthcare startups went public over the last five years. Gottlieb knows there’s money in the air, and he wants to play a part in making that money stick in Altium Capital partners’ portfolios.

But Gottlieb is more than a doctor and a hedge fund investor. Gottlieb believes in giving back and paying forward. Even though he still tries to balance his work schedule between the Visium shutdown and his duties at Altium, he makes time to help several organizations in New York City. It’s not unusual to hear Gottlieb’s name at the Covenant House or at the Robin Hood Foundation in New York City. Jacob also supports Math for America. The Robin Hood Foundation tries to bring poverty to an end in New York. And the Covenant House works with kids who are homeless. The kids that run away from home and kids caught in sex-trafficking are the kids that the Covenant House really try to help. And when Gottlieb isn’t helping those organizations, he is on a mission to find highly qualified STEM teachers for city schools.

The many facets of Jacob Gottlieb personality are always on display when he’s investing. And when he is donating his money and time to non-profits around New York City his compassion, and his dedication to humanity are obvious. The Visium debacle made Gottlieb stronger, and he’s ready to use his newfound strength to make a financial as well as a social difference in the city he loves. He’s still in love with the investment and healthcare industries, but his love for the less fortunate in New York City is an important priority now.

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