.LANCER BANKRUPT By CHRISTOPHER BYRON
April 26, 2003 -- Lancer Partners, the beseiged Park Avenue hedge fund, has filed for bankruptcy - leaving pop star Britney Spears and New York Surrogate Judge Eve Preminger Friedman in the lurch.
The April 16 bankruptcy filing came after a series of problems for the fund, which is the domestic investment vehicle of the Lancer Group family of hedge funds. In recent weeks the domestic fund has been battered by a series of lawsuits by limited partners demanding a return of their investments.
In March, the fund's troubles escalated when an affiliate of Morgan Stanley & Co. filed suit in a Connecticut court, charging that Lancer had promised but failed to provide an audited accounting of its finances.
Similar complaints were lodged in suits by an investment affiliate of one-time Sotheby's chairman, Alfred Taubman, and by an investment arm of demi-billionaire Richard Cooper, an early backer of the Weight Watchers diet and health foods empire.
In an April 18 letter to shareholders, the fund's managing director - a one-time Wall Street analyst named Michael Lauer - blamed negative press coverage by The New York Post for the fund's inability to meet shareholder redemption demands.
Lauer is suing The Post for libel in connection with three stories published last autumn and winter. The stories raised questions about the value of the investments in a separate Lancer Group fund, the Lancer Offshore Fund, and about Lauer's business world ties to known or alleged white collar criminals.
One such individual, Bruce Cowan, is identified in Department of Justice and SEC documents as a "managing director" of the Lancer group. Cowan is now awaiting trial in Miami for attempting to bribe an undercover FBI agent in a $5 million kickback conspiracy using stock from a Lancer portfolio.
Cowan and Lauer have used their positions at Lancer to become players in the Hollywood movie scene.
The appearance of pop star Spears as an investor in Lancer Partners may further illuminate those connections.
SEC filings show that through Lancer, Lauer became a controlling beneficial owner of a Hollywood movie company called Total Film Group, Inc.
Sources tell The Post that in the year 2000 Total Film Group raised $65 million to produce a remake of the movie musical, "Grease," to star Britney Spears and the teen boys rock group, N*SYNC.
But disputes arose over rights to the "Grease" property and the movie was not produced, sources said. It is not clear whether Spears' limited partnership interest in the now-bankrupted Lancer Partners is related to Total Film's failed effort to produce "Grease."
Requests for comment from Spears' financial managers at New York's Padell Nadell were directed to the firm Rudolph and Beer. Padell said Spears ceased being a client two weeks ago. Rudolph referred calls to public relations agency Dan Klores, who insisted that Spears was never formally attached to the project.
In addition to their involvement with Total Film Group, both Lauer and Cowan appear as co-producers on several recent Hollywood movies, including "Roger Dodger," and "The Secret Lives Of Dentists," starring Campbell Scott and Hope Davis. |
