What The Wealth?
Executive At Troubled Hedge Fund Arrested For Running Pot Farm In Her House
Sign of the times? An executive at a billion-dollar Connecticut hedge fund was arrested on felony charges of allegedly running a huge year-round pot farm inside her home. But her boyfriend says the cops have it wrong, that they’re goat farmers, not dope farmers.
Tara Bryson, 36, is the sister of David Bryson, co-founder of Ridgefield, CT-based New Stream Capital. She heads investor relations for the $1 billion asset-backed lending fund that charges high rates to loan distressed companies money. At one time or another, well-known clients including Veronica Hearst, Elizabeth Taylor and Kathy Ireland used the firm to help fund real estate and business deals.
Bryson was arrested by the Connecticut State Police in Newtown on July 9th for three felonies: possession of marijuana, cultivation of marijuana, and conspiracy to cultivate marijuana. She plead not guilty, was released on $25,000 bail, and returned to work with investors at New Stream. Her boyfriend, Michael Hearl who lives with her, was arrested on seven felonies including, possession of a silencer for firearms and operating a drug factory.
State police narcotics task force reports say the residence was “a complex marijuana cultivation operation capable of producing a marijuana crop year round.” The Newtown Bee, which first reported the arrest, on August 13th, said police seized a portable air conditioner, a carbon dioxide generator and motorized track lighting system, as well as a growing ledger, financial records and a personal computer. Police said electric bills for the property were far larger than would be expected for the near 6,000 square foot home. Bryson bought it in May 2009. Public records list its worth at $1.15 million.
Reached at home, Hearl called the charges “bogus,” and said “we didn’t have that many plants” and that the guns police seized, including two 9 mm pistols and a shotgun, were legally registered. Bryson declined to comment.
Hearl said they did have a home business–goat farming. Last year Bryson registered the property with the Connecticut Farm Bureau as Butterfield Farms — named after the street she lives on. The site,promotthegoat.com, says Bryson and Hearl are striving to become a local supplier of goat product including cheese, milk and yogurt. Bryson received a $49,999 grant from the state to help get the farm going.
Hearl told Forbes the business isn’t off the ground yet and they don’t have a license to sell goat products. But they encourage visitors to stop by their five-acre lot and visit the goats. The arrest report says they have surveillance equipment on the property.....
....New Stream’s financial statements to investors show the company has not turned a profit since 2007.
In April, 2009, the firm said it would bar investors from withdrawing their money for two years, claiming the assets had become illiquid. One U.S. investor, Stratos Advisors, and at least two offshore investors have sued the firm to get their money out of the New Stream.
Last month DealFlow Media, a newsletter trade publication, reported that Gottex, an fund of funds with approximately $8 billion in assets, won a Bermuda court case that gave them receivership of some of the hedge fund’s assets. The court ruled the fund could not bar Gottex from withdrawing their near $200 million investment because they had a secure claim against the money. In December the web site Hedge Fund Implode reported that the Connecticut office of the FBI was investing the New Stream for violations of securities laws. At the time David Bryson told Hedge Fund Implode that “we have no knowledge of the investigation.” No charges have been brought against the company.
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