Brian Hunter (trader)

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Brian Hunter (born c. 1974) is a Canadian natural gas trader for the now closed Amaranth Advisors hedge fund. Amaranth, which had over $9 billion in assets, collapsed in 2006 after Hunter's gamble on natural gas futures market went bad.

Hunter grew up near Calgary and earned a master's degree in mathematics from the University of Alberta. Hunter gained experience at Calgary based TransCanada Corp. before moving to New York to join Deutsche Bank in May 2001. There, he made $69 million for the bank in his first two years. By 2003, Hunter was promoted to head of the bank's natural gas desk. [1] Hunter left soon after and subsequently sued over a withheld bonus, claiming Deutsche Bank defamed him. It denies the allegations.

In April 2005, Hunter was, reportedly, offered a $1 million bonus to join SAC Capital Partners. Nicholas Maounis, founder of Amaranth Advisors, refused to let Hunter go. Maounis named Hunter co-head of the firm's energy desk and gave him control of his own trades. Nearly a year and a half later, the latitude Hunter was granted in order to retain his talent lead to the firm taking a $6.6 billion dollar loss and, ultimately, lead to the dissolution of the fund entirely. [2] Amaranth and Hunter have been accused by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission of conspiring to manipulate natural gas prices. [3]

In 2007, Hunter attempted to organize a new hedge fund, Solengo Capital Partners. However, his efforts were thwarted by regulatory agencies due to his previous questionable trading practices. Shortly after finding his new fund wrapped up in regulatory red tape, Hunter sold Solengo's assets to Peak Ridge Capital Group and was hired by the firm as an adviser to its Commodity Volatility Fund. In 1Q 2008, the fund was up nearly 49% while many other hedge funds suffered losses.[4]

Hunter is currently the target of a $30 million fine to be levied by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in connection with the, alleged, manipulation of natural gas prices in 2006. In December 2007, Hunter sought to to prevent the FERC from taking any action against him for his participation in trading in the natural gas futures market. A federal judge denied his request.[5]