Seth Fischoff, a partner and approximately 10-year veteran of giant New York hedge fund The Clinton Group, has resigned to pursue other opportunities, according to an executive with the fund who says Fischoff offered no specific future professional plans. He left two weeks ago and was unavailable to comment. Fischoff was the public face for the fund's $2.15 billion Clinton Multi-Strategy Fund, allocating convertible, mortgage- and asset-backed and global bond trades, as well as dealing with both dealers and investors. His departure, which comes during a time of performance volatility for many fixed-income arbitrage hedge funds including Clinton (BW, 8/25), coupled with his high profile within the dealer mortgage-backed security community, sent tongues wagging across the Street.
Fischoff came to prominence after having joined the fund straight out of school in the '90s and sat on the fund's nascent MBS desk. The Clinton executive says Fischoff was involved with several different bond sectors, including both the convertible and MBS derivative areas. He also spent nearly a year helping to launch the fund's London office. The executive does note however that Fischoff never managed a portfolio or product sector at the fund.