"In 1996, his son Paul, aged 34, was riding a bicycle, when he was killed by a car on Long Island.[22] In 2003, his son Nicholas, aged 24, drowned on a trip to Bali, Indonesia."

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5527131&forum_id=2#47650726)

i mean, the fund was legit in the sense that simons did hire smart mathematicians etc to develop trading signals. but it was much more than just a hedge fund. it seemed to function variously as a way to obfuscate international money movement, a way to monetize intelligence IP, and a way for intelligence agencies to pay obscene salaries to develop new IP

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5527131&forum_id=2#47650734)

just as revealing imo, is what he says in interviews he gave later in life. it's pretty telling if you actually listen. in one he's asked what his greatest mathematical accomplishment was, and he says "it's classified"--which, given the importance of his published research, tells you a lot about the trove of cryptographic IP the government is sitting on. also he states that the first couple years, rentech wasn't even a quant fund, he was just doing 'fundamental' currency trading. hard to believe somebody would quit their cushy tenured professorship to spec on fx out of a strip mall.

the whole origin story just make no sense.

almost every thing about him/rentech on internet is transparent propaganda.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5527131&forum_id=2#47651104)

They havent taken other people's money in decades

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5527131&forum_id=2#47651340)