Robin Hood eyed for giving to rich

The Robin Hood Foundation is under scrutiny by Congress for investing charitable money into its donors’ and members’ hedge funds, Bloomberg reported. The New York-based charity has an emergency fund that grew to $144.5 million from $20 million in less than 20 years. Half of the money has been invested into hedge funds managed by the charity’s donors and board members, who are collecting the standard fees of 2% of the managed assets, plus 20% of the profit, Bloomberg said. Industry figureheads, such as Goldman Sachs’ CEO Lloyd Blankfein and Lehman Brothers’ chairman Richard Fuld, as well as film stars, including Gwyneth Paltrow, sit on the 31-member board. “I don’t remember Robin Hood keeping two and 20 as his cut,” said Iowa senator and Senate Finance Committee ranking member Charles Grassley, to Bloomberg. According to its 2005 tax filings—the most recent available—the charity had its long term assets invested into 19 hedge funds, seven of which were either managed by board members or the group’s leadership council, Bloomberg said. That year, the foundation paid about $14 million in fees. Although the foundation’s actions aren’t illegal, they may give the appearance of a conflict of interest, Bloomberg reported. The issue arises just as Congress discusses boosting taxes on hedge funds, private equity firms and their managers.