We tried contacting the company for some answers via phone and email to no avail. This left us wondering if Tramita was really another one of the numerous ponzi investment scams that eventually left its investors high and dry. However, doing some research we came to the conclusion that this was not the case, but the alternative scenario is of no consolation to investors.

According to Hedge Fund Research, about one in 10 hedge funds disappeared last year. Seven percent of the industry closed its doors in the first three quarters of 2008, that’s nearly 700 funds. The bleeding will not stop this year as thousands more are expected to die in 2009 as nervous investors line up for redemptions of what is left of their funds. It is our belief that Tramita Funds was one of these casualties.

The fortunate investors were the ones that were able to receive their redemptions before the global financial meltdown started to spiral out of control. Massive redemptions left many of the hedge funds clamoring to liquidate assets to fulfill these requests and eventually causing them to fail.

If this was the reason for the disappearance of Tramita, then it is understandable, however, the lack of communication or explanation to their investors is unacceptable. While we subscribe to laissez faire when it comes to government intervention in regards to private investments, this may be the one time where transparency should be inforced.

We can not confirm this story to be factual or not, but thought it may be interesting to know that talk show celebrity Larry King may have had funds invested in Tramita as well. Read story here.

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On October 17th, Lahde passed along his “goodbye” letter, a biting “F-you” message to the financial establishment, hedge funds, government and privileged “prep” school kids.

It’s really entertaining. Below is the letter in it’s entirety as found on FT Alphaville and Portfolio.com. Few can disagree with his sentiments in our current economic crisis.

“Today I write not to gloat. Given the pain that nearly everyone is experiencing, that would be entirely inappropriate. Nor am I writing to make further predictions, as most of my forecasts in previous letters have unfolded or are in the process of unfolding. Instead, I am writing to say goodbye.

Recently, on the front page of Section C of the Wall Street Journal, a hedge fund manager who was also closing up shop (a $300 million fund), was quoted as saying, “What I have learned about the hedge fund business is that I hate it.” I could not agree more with that statement. I was in this game for the money. The low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy, only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America.

There are far too many people for me to sincerely thank for my success. However, I do not want to sound like a Hollywood actor accepting an award. The money was reward enough. Furthermore, the endless list those deserving thanks know who they are.

I will no longer manage money for other people or institutions. I have enough of my own wealth to manage. Some people, who think they have arrived at a reasonable estimate of my net worth, might be surprised that I would call it quits with such a small war chest. That is fine; I am content with my rewards. Moreover, I will let others try to amass nine, ten or eleven figure net worths. Meanwhile, their lives suck. Appointments back to back, booked solid for the next three months, they look forward to their two week vacation in January during which they will likely be glued to their Blackberries or other such devices. What is the point? They will all be forgotten in fifty years anyway. Steve Balmer, Steven Cohen, and Larry Ellison will all be forgotten. I do not understand the legacy thing. Nearly everyone will be forgotten. Give up on leaving your mark. Throw the Blackberry away and enjoy life.

So this is it. With all due respect, I am dropping out. Please do not expect any type of reply to emails or voicemails within normal time frames or at all. Andy Springer and his company will be handling the dissolution of the fund. And don’t worry about my employees, they were always employed by Mr. Springer’s company and only one (who has been well-rewarded) will lose his job.

I have no interest in any deals in which anyone would like me to participate. I truly do not have a strong opinion about any market right now, other than to say that things will continue to get worse for some time, probably years. I am content sitting on the sidelines and waiting. After all, sitting and waiting is how we made money from the subprime debacle. I now have time to repair my health, which was destroyed by the stress I layered onto myself over the past two years, as well as my entire life — where I had to compete for spaces in universities and graduate schools, jobs and assets under management — with those who had all the advantages (rich parents) that I did not. May meritocracy be part of a new form of government, which needs to be established.

On the issue of the U.S. Government, I would like to make a modest proposal. First, I point out the obvious flaws, whereby legislation was repeatedly brought forth to Congress over the past eight years, which would have reigned in the predatory lending practices of now mostly defunct institutions. These institutions regularly filled the coffers of both parties in return for voting down all of this legislation designed to protect the common citizen. This is an outrage, yet no one seems to know or care about it. Since Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith passed, I would argue that there has been a dearth of worthy philosophers in this country, at least ones focused on improving government. Capitalism worked for two hundred years, but times change, and systems become corrupt. George Soros, a man of staggering wealth, has stated that he would like to be remembered as a philosopher. My suggestion is that this great man start and sponsor a forum for great minds to come together to create a new system of government that truly represents the common man’s interest, while at the same time creating rewards great enough to attract the best and brightest minds to serve in government roles without having to rely on corruption to further their interests or lifestyles. This forum could be similar to the one used to create the operating system, Linux, which competes with Microsoft’s near monopoly. I believe there is an answer, but for now the system is clearly broken.

Lastly, while I still have an audience, I would like to bring attention to an alternative food and energy source. You won’t see it included in BP’s, “Feel good. We are working on sustainable solutions,” television commercials, nor is it mentioned in ADM’s similar commercials. But hemp has been used for at least 5,000 years for cloth and food, as well as just about everything that is produced from petroleum products. Hemp is not marijuana and vice versa. Hemp is the male plant and it grows like a weed, hence the slang term. The original American flag was made of hemp fiber and our Constitution was printed on paper made of hemp. It was used as recently as World War II by the U.S. Government, and then promptly made illegal after the war was won. At a time when rhetoric is flying about becoming more self-sufficient in terms of energy, why is it illegal to grow this plant in this country? Ah, the female. The evil female plant — marijuana. It gets you high, it makes you laugh, it does not produce a hangover. Unlike alcohol, it does not result in bar fights or wife beating. So, why is this innocuous plant illegal? Is it a gateway drug? No, that would be alcohol, which is so heavily advertised in this country. My only conclusion as to why it is illegal, is that Corporate America, which owns Congress, would rather sell you Paxil, Zoloft, Xanax and other additive drugs, than allow you to grow a plant in your home without some of the profits going into their coffers. This policy is ludicrous. It has surely contributed to our dependency on foreign energy sources. Our policies have other countries literally laughing at our stupidity, most notably Canada, as well as several European nations (both Eastern and Western). You would not know this by paying attention to U.S. media sources though, as they tend not to elaborate on who is laughing at the United States this week. Please people, let’s stop the rhetoric and start thinking about how we can truly become self-sufficient.

With that I say good-bye and good luck.

All the best,

Andrew Lahde”

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Kids, cover your eyes and ears because this is only for mature adults 18 and over. Well, at least for grown-ups that are accredited with a high net worth. It was bound to happen sooner or later in this 57 billion dollar industry. Adultvest.com is a website that caters to investors interested in capitalizing in the adult entertainment through hedge funds, private equity funds and venture capital.

“AdultVest is the first and only Investment Marketplace and News Letter geared towards matching investors and successful entrepreneurs with growing adult companies and adult entertainers looking to start up, expand, acquire or be acquired.”

Billed as the first company of its kind, Adultvest was founded and is headed by CEO Francis Koenig, an experienced hedge fund veteran. The company’s management team reads like a list of who’s who in business management, investing, finance, private equity, banking, real estate and of course adult entertainment – just to name a few.

According to Adultvest’s website, there are over 68 million search engine requests daily on adult themes, making up 25% of all searches and adult websites receives over 72 million visitors daily. They say the combined revenues of GOOG, MSFT, YHOO, ORCL, and SUNW did not stack up to the 57 billion dollars of the adult entertainment industry. (However, I think they should redo their math – MSFT’s revenue alone is 54.07B.)

Disregarding the slight mathematical calculation, any way you look at it, the adult business is huge and there is money to be made in a market that has been historically ignored by Wall Street. Adultvest is now here to fill that void and is already managing two private equity funds that were launched last year, the Priapus and the Bacchus Investment Funds. Both funds are able to accept IRA and 401K money from accredited and institutional investors.

A new hedge fund that was launched this year offers a collateralized preferred dividend based on the amount invested. A yield of LIBOR plus 2% for a minimum investment of $25,000, LIBOR plus 3% for $100,000, LIBOR plus 4% for $1 million and yielding LIBOR plus 5% requires a minimum investment of $5 million. This fund finances gentlemen’s clubs that are not able to obtain traditional financing through banks because of the adult entertainment nature of its business.

Accredited alternative investors can currently register and join free on Adultvest’s website to research hundreds of privately held adult entertainment companies for investment opportunities. Registration can also be made for the upcoming 2008 Adultvest convention where investors, adult businesses and talent can meet.

To find out more about the company and alternative investment opportunities in the adult entertainment industry, please visit www.adultvest.com.

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To become a shareholder of U-Gotcash, you will have to sign up at FinancePortalSolutions (FPS). FPS is headquartered in Panama City, Panama and offers a range of investment solutions. According to their website, there are currently four different programs that are being offered, Gap Funding, Hedge Funding, Offshore Structuring/Banking, and the U-GotCash payment portal.

Invest in any of their programs and your investment will grow within a certain period of time depending on the program you are registered to. Here is the list from the site:

• Gap Funding – an income earning program that allows your investment to grow 5% – 8% monthly.
• Hedge Fund – gives you the opportunity to be an equity owner of our own offshore hedge fund that offers large returns on investments.
• U-GotCash – it is an e-currency payment portal that offers secure, easy and fast online payment system. Included in this program is an income earning system through commissions from transactions and referrals.
• Offshore Structuring and Banking – gives you the freedom to manage your finances and at the same time provides you offshore investment opportunities

They have weekly conference calls that you can listen in and ask questions with the CEO, Tom Green.

MON, TUE and THU
Time: 10pm EST
Call Line: 1-712-432-7550
Pin: 335071#

I have attended a couple of these calls and received some additional information to report here. There are ongoing offerings that the members are currently participating in that has a 100% return on the investment in a relatively very short period of time. These investments are being managed by an expert advisory group that has been doing this for years.

It is this same advisory group that is heading the charge in creating the hedge fund. If you would like to participate, I advise you to call in soon because the timeline for it is closing quickly. 150K is needed to get it rolling and to become a 1% holder in this fund to share in the profits of future investments through the fund; you will have to invest $1500 dollars. That means a total 100 spots were available, and the numbers are filling up. Theoretically, just a small number of investors can buy up all the spots.

In my opinion, FPS is legitimate and will do what it says. An important factor that I see that gives this opportunity a green light is its connection with three other well grounded companies that you can actually verify.

1. CallComInc.com – A Philippine IT corporation that is providing the technology for FPS, U-GotCash and 24VIPInc.com
2. 24VIPInc.com – is a separate network marketing program that offers a benefits package to its members. Tom Green is the CEO as well.
3. Techs4Success.biz – is the parent company to CallCom and 24VIPInc and is headquartered in the U.S.

Q: Are there any membership fees for FPS?
A: There is no registration or annual fees collected. If you are going to join any of our programs, you will only provide the amount subject to your own investment.
Q: How am I going to fund my account/s?
A: You may use E-Bullion account, Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Money Order, Counter Deposits or Bank Wire.
Q: Can I sign up to multiple programs?
A: Yes, you may sign up to multiple programs. There are no restrictions in regards with number of accounts.

If you are looking for an opportunity to participate in a hedge fund and the ability to get an offshore structure, Finance Portal Solutions may be worth taking a closer look. As always, we just bring you the information.

Do your Due,

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A relatively new fund, Aluben Holdings, based in Canada is performing quite well (36% for the first 6 months). Take a look to see if their strategy fits the way you invest. Like most hedge funds, it is structured as a limited partnership and a private offering. You must meet accredited status to participate depending on where you live. The minimum investment is $5K and the cost per Class A unit is $150K. Visit the site to get the Offering Memorandum and Subscription Agreements.

These hedge fund managers usually come from the cream of the financial industry. Armed with the freedom that hedge funds offered, they put their skills to the test. Unlike mutual funds, a hedge fund has none of the restrictions imposed like the trading of derivatives and making short sales. A hedge fund manager can trade just about anything at any time. Another major difference is that most hedge funds are structured where the fund manager has a vested interest in the fund and is paid per performance of the fund.

While there are thousands of hedge funds available, there are a number of frauds in this industry. There are cases where fraudulent hedge fund managers deceive investors by making false reports and then using the assets of the funds for their own personal interests. The main reasons why this can happen are because of the ease in which an unscrupulous individual can start a hedge fund and the ability to structure it to be exempt from securities registration and scrutiny.

Do the Due,

Van

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