How the U.S. Government Was Sold to a Hedge Fund

Evil genius billionaire, Robert Mercer, and his cohorts at the Renaissance Technologies hedge fund reached a $7 billion settlement with the U.S. Government in September after their failed takeover of the presidential election process. This is nearly twice the size of the penalty paid by the Sackler family hedge fund — $4 billion — for deceptively encouraging over-prescription of the painkiller Oxycontin.

That’s $4 billion for the Sacklers, who are rightly pilloried by the press daily, and $7 billion for Renaissance Partners, who no one seems to have heard of. The Mercer guilty plea has not been covered by The Hill, Breaking Points, The Young Turks, or other usually reliable media outlets, much less by the mainstream media. Search Google News for Renaissance Technologies and the $7 billion fine is not included in the top 80 search results. It has been disappeared in favor of stories about the fund’s above-average financial performance.

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Steve O’Keefe is the author of several books, most recently Set the Page on Fire: Secrets of Successful Writers, from New World Library, based on over 250 interviews. He is the former editorial director for Loompanics Unlimited.

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