Page Perry

The manager of Citigroup’s disastrous MAT/ASTA municipal arbitrage hedge funds, who left Citigroup in 2008 and now works in Bangladesh, recently told BusinessWeek that he has no regrets, no responsibility for what happened to investors, and would not have done anything differently. (“Ex-Manager Islam Has No Regrets After Funds Crash,” Donal Griffin and Anthony Effinger, 3/13/12). Reaz Islam, the fund manager, claimed that Citigroup disclosed all material risks and acted properly at all times in marketing and managing the funds. Arbitrators who have seen and heard the evidence, however, disagree. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitrators have ordered Citigroup on multiple occasions to pay millions to those who invested in the MAT/ASTA funds.