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Two years after clearing his name, former hedge fund honcho Dan Zwirn is giving it another go.
The 42-year-old founder of now defunct D.B. Zwirn — which collapsed in an accounting scandal — has hired two execs to help him rebuild his lending and investment empire.
Despite the difficulties of the last few years, Zwirn feels “compelled” because he loves deal-making and investing, said a person familiar with his plans.
Ideally, he would like to build an investment firm to rival the likes of Cerberus or Fortress, which ended up buying D.B. Zwirn’s assets after its demise, the person said. A Zwirn spokesman declined to comment.
People close to Zwirn said his plans were in the “very early stages.” He started meeting with potential business partners and investors around Labor Day.
At its peak, D.B. Zwirn managed $5.5 billion and had offices around the world. The firm, which specialized in loans to companies, collapsed in 2007 amid a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into accounting irregularities, including an improper loan to fund Zwirn’s private Gulfstream jet.
In 2011, the SEC cleared Zwirn of wrongdoing and sued his former chief financial officer, Perry Gruss, for improper fund transfers.
Zwirn is exploring a range of options beyond a hedge fund, including finding a partner to help him buy an existing pool of money, such as a real-estate investment trust, sources said.
Zwirn, who currently manages money through Zwirn Family Interests, hired Marcel Herbst, formerly with fund of funds Harcourt, which invested in D.B. Zwirn.
Zwirn has also recruited his former chief operating officer and chief compliance officer Lawrence Cutler, sources said.
The new entity will be named “Arena,” after Teddy Roosevelt’s 1910 speech at Paris-Sorbonne University.