Israel Englander: More Info

Advisory groups may become the new trend in hedge fund industry.

Israel Englander’s Millennium Management has appointed former FBI Director Louis Freeh and former SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt to a new board to advise the giant hedge fund on regulatory matters.

The board was formed as legislators in the United States and elsewhere consider tightening rules controlling hedge funds and many funds are under investigation for insider trading.

The $7.8 billion firm’s founder, Israel Englander, wrote a letter to clients on April 30 that Millennium has formed an independent Regulatory and Compliance Advisory Council which will meet regularly to help management evaluate changes in laws and regulations that might influence the way it operates.

Freeh and Pitt and four other prominent regulatory and capital markets experts also entered the new group.

“Our expectation is that the council will help us see the forest, and not just the trees,” Englander informed clients.

The letter also informed investors that the fund had gained 3.97 percent in the first three months of the 2010.

A spokesman for the firm declined to comment.

For Millennium the move is yet another investor-friendly step designed to make the firm’s operations more transparent.

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