Business

Trading places: Schonfeld woos talent from shuttered funds

Trading kingpin Steven Schonfeld is ready to turn the hedge-fund industry’s insider-trading pain into his gain.

The head of the $2 billion Schonfeld Group, looking to double his firm’s size, previously scooped up top-notch talent from the shuttered Galleon Group and is ready to grab top traders from the recently closed Diamondback Capital Management.

Both funds closed after executives got snared in US Attorney Preet Bharara’s massive insider-trading probe.

While some firms may steer clear of talent at the firms for fear of getting slimed with a Galleon- or Diamondback-related taint, Schonfeld isn’t afraid.

The Long Island firm trades only Schonfeld’s personal money so it doesn’t have to fear investor backlash — or register with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

As one recruiter put it, “They don’t report to anybody.”

From his corner office in a nondescript building right off the Long Island Expressway in Jericho, NY, Schonfeld told The Post that he feels confident he will be able to woo top talent from hedge funds — shuttered or not — because he knows what makes them tick.

“We understand traders and portfolio managers very well and really cater to their needs, wants and wishes,” Schonfeld said in an interview Monday.

The 53-year-old Wall Street veteran, who gained fame as a short-term trader but has branched out into other strategies, works with about 250 traders and portfolio managers — though not all are employees.

The firm has in recent months inked deals with five groups, and it is talking with five others, on the road to hiring up to 25 in total.

Schonfeld Group is expected to announce its upcoming hiring spree today.

To assist in the expected expansion, the billionaire trader hired Adin Kahn, a heavy-hitter from $17 billion Millennium hedge fund.

Schonfeld and Kahn are offering richer compensation packages than hedge funds, while allowing portfolio managers to go out and raise additional capital of their own. Schonfeld also claims to allow his managers to take more trading risks than most hedge funds allow.

“I feel comfortable in our ability to attract the best talent,” said Schonfeld.

If the growth strategy provides some notoriety, it won’t be the first time. In 2009 Schonfeld was in the spotlight after spending $90 million for a Long Island mansion with its own golf course.

He was suspended by the New York Stock Exchange in 2008 from supervising a brokerage for three months due to improper trading, one of more than a dozen regulatory infractions.

The firm said its regulatory problems have been minor, and on par with other brokerages — but to avoid further headaches, Schonfeld sold his brokerage and closed his hedge funds in recent years, turning his trading firm into one of the only free-wheeling, entities left: a family office.

The strategy appears to be working. So far this year, Schonfeld said it has outperformed the S&P 500, a feat few hedge funds have managed.