Taxing the ghost

摘要

Even in death, me worm s most notorious hedge fund cannot escape the tax-man. On August 27th a federal judge in Connecticut ruled that Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM), which blew up spectacularly in 1998 despite having two Nobel economics laureates among its founders, had created meaningless tax shelters in order to report a $106m loss in 1997. Instead, the fund should have paid $40m to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). With penalties, the sum is likely to reach $56m. The bill will go to the 12 former partners. An appeal seems likely, although some of the money has already been paid.