Hedge Fund and Insider Trading News: Och-Ziff Capital Management, Elliott Management, Pier 1 Imports Inc (PIR), Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (BZH), and More

Och-Ziff’s Plea Deal May Be Upended With Restitution Claim (Bloomberg)
An investor group is demanding as much as $600 million in restitution from Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC over lost mining rights in a move that might upend the hedge fund’s deal to settle U.S. charges that it was involved in a sprawling African bribery conspiracy. The request Tuesday from 50 investors in Africo Resources Ltd. raises doubts over whether Och-Ziff, which has $33 billion under management, can put the yearslong corruption saga behind it. U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis will now have to consider whether to order Och-Ziff to pay up or set a hearing to investigate Africo’s claims.

BHP CEO Will Meet With Activist Elliott to Discuss Demands (Bloomberg)
BHP Billiton Ltd.’s top executive will meet with major critic Elliott Management Corp. this week to discuss demands for a business overhaul that the activist group argues could deliver more than $22 billion in value. BHP’s first-half results missed analysts’ expectations and the shares fell 4.6 percent, on pace for the biggest daily drop since April. The world’s biggest mining company will also canvass other shareholders on the proposal to reorganize as a single company listed in Australia. While flagging potential risks and costs associated with the New York-based fund’s demands, Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mackenzie pledged to discuss the issue further. He said he’ll probably say more after meeting with Elliott.

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U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Investor Appeals Over Fannie, Freddie Restructuring (Reuters)
WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to revive litigation in which shareholders accused the federal government of overstepping its authority when it restructured mortgage finance firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac following the 2008 housing crisis. The justices left in place a lower court’s 2017 ruling that the investors, led by hedge fund Perry Capital, could not pursue legal claims accusing the government of unlawfully channeling profits from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the U.S. Treasury Department.

Elliott Management, a $34 Billion Hedge Fund, Described Cryptocurrencies as ‘One of the Most Brilliant Scams in History’ in a Brutal Takedown (Business Insider)
Elliott Management, a $34 billion hedge fund founded by the billionaire Paul Singer, has an abbreviation to describe the folly surrounding cryptocurrencies: WTHIT. “FOMO (fear of missing out) has solidly trumped WTHIT (what the hell is this??),” Elliott told clients in a January 26 letter seen by Business Insider. “When the history is written, cryptocurrencies will likely be described as one of the most brilliant scams in history.”