By Stephen Taub
Illustrations by Jack Unruh
Paul Tudor Jones II is the quintessential swashbuckling hedge fund manager—a former cotton trader who famously parlayed a bet on the 1987 stock market crash into an empire with $20.8 billion at its peak. In recent years he's become known as much for his philanthropic efforts with New York's Robin Hood Foundation as for his trading skills.
But shortly before his heir apparent, star equities manager Jim Pallotta, left the firm at the end of 2008, Jones watched most of his portfolio freeze up following Lehman's bankruptcy filing and decided it was time to play a larger role at the firm. He quickly stemmed the losses, threw up a gate to suspend redemptions, and then created a side pocket for his illiquid holdings.
"I'm never going to let this happen to me again," Jones was heard saying at the time.
And...