private-equity-and-hedge-funds11.58 min read AI Hedge Fund Collapses Under Margin Calls
Leopold Aschenbrenner’s AI-focused hedge fund Situational Awareness collapsed after margin calls forced a distressed sale of its public holdings to Ken Griffin’s Citadel, wiping out roughly $35 billion from a peak near $45 billion. Prime brokers Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase helped meet margin requirements as the fund’s leveraged positions were dumped, with as much as 400% leverage cited. The portfolio included AI infrastructure bets and private stakes like Anthropic, Nebius Group, Sandisk, Micron, and CoreWeave; the fund had posted outsized gains since its 2024 inception but investors warned of trouble, and the crash occurred as founder Leopold Aschenbrenner, 25, was preparing to marry Avital Balwit.
2 months ago•Source: Yahoo Finance
