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I expect the hedge fund sector to grow by 31% over the next five years to reach USD 4,700 billion in 2023. Even if it is the percentage, it is the smallest anticipated increase of all alternative asset classes. At $1.1 trillion, it follow the second highest level of expected net capital growth, behind private equity alone ($1,800 billion), which should outperform hedge funds as the largest alternative sector, at $4,900 billion.

We know that the American judicial system is a little crazy. We know that. We know that Americans love big media trials. And they do not deprive themselves of the pleasure of a large number of crazy legal cases, sometimes involving the decline of powerful people, sometimes involving crazy people who do anything crazy. It’s a free country, after all.

The history of derivatives markets began in 1848 with the creation in Chicago of CBOT, the first agricultural commodity futures exchange. From 1848 to 1975, this market developed and specialized in cereal markets (wheat, corn, oats) and oilseed products (soybeans, peanuts…). Also, since the 1970s, the market has been developing contracts on indices, rates and currencies.

Pinning white-collar offenders will become even more difficult for American prosecutors. Navigating the mysteries of the corporate world to prove the misdeeds of crooked executives was already no small feat. But the US Supreme Court has just complicated matters by interpreting more strictly the law that sent Jeffrey Skilling, former Enron boss, and Conrad Black, former boss of the Hollinger media group, to prison.