(Bloomberg) -- Anthony Scaramucci, the hedge-fund rainmaker in Donald Trump's inner circle of advisers, gets some of the money he steers to hedge funds from an outfit called Trump Securities.
No, not that Trump.
Trump Securities LLC operates from an unsigned office inside a lower Manhattan high-rise, past an entrance flanked by signs reading “No Hand Trucks in Lobby.” The president-elect has no connection with the firm -- he's not an investor or a partner, according to Trump Securities principal Howard Spindel.
Trump Securities, founded in 1998 as Equinox and renamed in 2004, is among a couple of dozen broker-dealers that are run with the help of Spindel, an accountant who's been involved in the brokerage business since the 1960s. The firm's name, Spindel says, is a nod to a former business partner's love of pinochle and an homage to Spindel's relatives who lived many years ago in Brooklyn's Trump Village, an apartment complex built by Donald's father, Fred Trump.
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The lack of an official link to Donald Trump makes Trump Securities a rarity among Trump-branded vodkas, steaks and hotels. Although Trump the man has filed dozens of lawsuits over the years to get the Trump name removed from some properties (including two Atlantic City casinos) and added to others (including an airline), Spindel says he hasn't heard any complaints about Trump Securities from the businessman's lawyers.
‘Purely Coincidental'
The Trump transition team referred questions to Michael D. Cohen, executive vice president of the Trump Organization, who laughed upon learning how his boss's family had inspired the broker-dealer's name. He confirmed that there was no affiliation with the president-elect. “The fact that there may be a connection is purely coincidental and not unlikely,” he said, “given that the company's been doing securities business for 20 years.”
The unofficial link between the securities firm and the president-elect is Scaramucci, whom Spindel referred to as “the Mooch!” when asked about him at the entrance to his office.
Scaramucci, through spokesman Mike Geller, declined to comment.
Scaramucci has made his name, in part, as the host of an annual conference in Las Vegas that pairs investing legends such as Michael Milken and Steven A. Cohen with speakers who have included Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Mitt Romney and Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News.
Influential Adviser
Now, Scaramucci's committee on Trump's transition team will influence who is named to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Treasury Department and other financial overseers, giving Scaramucci -- who says he isn't interested in a government job -- a perch at the intersection of the federal government, banks and markets.
Scaramucci's SkyBridge Capital LLC operates “funds of funds,” which are pools of investor money that are steered to various money managers. The approach gives investors access to hedge funds that might otherwise be out of reach. SkyBridge charges fees on top of those charged by the hedge funds.
Raising money in increments as small as tens of thousands of dollars is labor intensive. That's where Trump Securities comes in, taking care of back-office work for independent brokers, Spindel says.
While Trump Securities is a rare example of a Trump-branded business that isn't a part of Donald Trump's business empire, it's also an arrangement that the president-elect may have to get used to. There's a long tradition of high schools, airports, aircraft carriers and interstates being named in honor of American presidents, who don't get paid for their use.
To contact the reporter on this story: Neil Weinberg in New York at nweinberg2@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net, David S. Joachim, Paul Cox
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