Former Bridgewater Associates co-CEO Eileen Murray has filed a lawsuit against the Westport hedge fund, alleging it is withholding $20 million to $100 million in deferred compensation in retaliation for her public disclosure of her gender discrimination dispute with the firm.
Meanwhile, Bridgewater ”“ the world”™s largest hedge fund, with $140 billion in assets under management (AUM) ”“ has reportedly laid off “dozens” of employees due at least in part to its AUM dropping some $28 billion since the end of 2019.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the Ray Dalio-led firm”™s layoffs were the largest in its history, and affected such divisions as research and client services. CNBC reported that Bridgewater”™s flagship Pure Alpha fund was down by 13.6% through June, and that the company has deferred the start date for most of its incoming first-year analysts to next year.
“The world is changing in dramatic ways and we are taking steps to adapt to it,” according to a Bridgewater statement.
Meanwhile, Murray”™s suit, filed in Connecticut federal court, maintains that the company issued a written statement on July 14 that her public disclosures about what she alleges is gender discrimination would lead to the forfeiture of deferred compensation.
Murray left Bridgewater earlier this year. Her suit against the company also alleges unequal pay and breach of contract. The suit maintains that the threatened withholding of her deferred wages represent an “improper gambit to silence her voice” and is “part of a cynical plan to intimidate and silence her.”
Murray joined Bridgewater in 2009 and became its co-CEO in 2011.
Two months ago, The Partnership for Connecticut ”“ a multimillion-dollar private-public initiative between the state and Ray and Barbara Dalio ”“ was disbanded in the midst of questions over its transparency and what Barbara Dalio called “political fighting.”
Among the issues behind the Dalios”™ exit were allegations by Mary Anne Schmitt-Carey, who was hired as the group”™s president and CEO on March 23, that she had been the target of “false and defamatory allegations.”
