Hedge Fund Manager Fired For Alleged Bad Behavior Accuses Firm of ‘Trump-Bashing’ in ‘Whistleblower’ Letter

After hedge fund D. E. Shaw & Co. fired their manager Daniel Michalow over allegations of innapropriate behavior, the employee penned a tell-all departure letter. One revelation made deep in the five-page missive was an interesting nugget: he lambasted the group’s employees for “Trump-bashing.”

An internal review found that Michalow had “engaged in gross violations of our standards and values” while working at the multi-billion dollar firm — which he denies is the case.

One allegation against Michalow, according to Business Insider, is certainly something:

The investigation was sparked after Michalow allegedly said to a former assistant that one of the requirements for hiring a new assistant was someone that he could “call sugar tits,” people familiar with the matter told Business Insider.

In Michalow’s lengthy letter — which recalls the 25-page manifesto Tom Cruise’s character in Jerry Maguire wrote calling out his own company — he claimed that his firing “is not related to sexual misconduct,” instead claiming he was a “scapegoat with a proverbial hanging in the town square.”

He also accused the firm of assuring him that he was not being fired for sexual misconduct, but refusing to declare that publicly and on the record.

“While I was surely an abrasive boss and perhaps deserved to be fired for my style, there is no basis for the whisper campaign about anything sexual,” Michalow wrote.

Michalow, who addressed the letter to the firm’s namesake David E. Shaw, also suggested that while his peers engaged in sexual relations with one another — and that the firm embarked on more than one trip to the strip club — while hugging female colleagues was seen as a firable offense:

“Your firm’s policies dictate that employees are completely free to have sex with each other all they want, and that DESCO doesn’t have an interest in that. But if a man were to lightly hug a few women in greeting or in parting after social events in a completely non-sexual way, that suddenly qualifies as a fireable offense.”

At one point, the ex-hedge fund manager went full Jerry Maguire and condemned the “firm’s lax behavioral policies.”

“The way to address [professional conduct issues] — and, in the long run, serve uphold the firm’s reputation — is not by a sacrificing a loyal culture-carrier but rather through a rigorous assessment led by an independent investigator given you may not be aware of serious issues with DESCO’s culture,” wrote Michalow, who suggested his peers should instead comply with “current professional standards.”

And then, buried on page three of the five page address was a titillating revelation from Michalow: “And, not to get into politics (I respect everyone’s right to have their own views and applaud your generous support for Hillary Clinton), but with all the Trump-bashing at the firm do you think a Republican would feel comfortable working there?”

Shaw, who manages the fund, was one of Hillary Clinton’s biggest donors during the 2016 election, giving more than $2 million to her Super PAC.

After decrying the company’s “lavish, alcohol-filled parties,” Michalow concluded with an appeal for both the New York City-based firm and the industry as a whole.

“The firm — and maybe the industry — needs some of your great moral leadership once again,” wrote Michalow.

[images via screengrab]

Follow the author on Twitter (@calebecarma).