How a 46-Year-Old Hedge Fund Went Bankrupt Without a Blowup

The order came down from George Weiss, hedge fund pioneer: Sell. Sell it all.

The fund was closing, he said, near tears, to a group of portfolio managers over Zoom. Employees were floored.

After 46 years, his eponymous investment firm — founded in 1978, when the Dow was bumping along 800 — was spiraling toward oblivion.

His stunning directive on the morning of Feb. 29 marked the culmination of a series of missteps — including paying executives six-figure bonuses while on the brink of insolvency — that sank one of the world’s oldest hedge funds into bankruptcy last month ...