Introduction
Boaz Weinstein (born 1973) is an American hedge fund manager and founder of Saba Capital Management. He was born to Israeli and American parents.
Early life and education
Weinstein first enrolled in a chess workshop at the age of five and earned the title of National Master by the time he was 16. He is also a skilled poker and blackjack player. Weinstein graduated from Stuyvesant High School in New York City and from the University of Michigan in 1995 with a degree in Philosophy.
Deutsche Bank
Weinstein worked at Deutsche Bank from 1998–2009. He was Co-Head of Global Credit Trading where he oversaw a team of approximately 650 professionals and was a member of the Global Markets Executive Committee. He rose to prominence in 2006 and 2007, when the Saba proprietary trading group cleared over $1.5 billion in profits. Weinstein was promoted at age 27 to become Deutsche Bank's youngest-ever Managing Director. His proprietary trading group was reported to have lost $1.8 billion in 2008, his only losing year out of his eleven years at Deutsche Bank.
Saba Capital Management
After his massive losses at Deutsche Bank in 2008, Weinstein in 2009 left with 15 members of his team to start his own credit-focused hedge fund, Saba Capital Management, based in New York. Saba launched its flagship fund in August 2009 but was only able to raise $140 million for the launch.
In March 2011, Saba was listed as the fastest growing hedge fund in 2010 by Absolute Return + Alpha Magazine. Weinstein was also included in Fortune Magazine’s 40 Under 40 list in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, Weinstein profited from a notable $6-billion loss incurred by JPMorgan on account of a failed investment in credit derivatives attributed to Bruno Iksil. Saba lost money in 2012, 2013, and 2014 and as some investors withdrew their funds, the main fund's assets fell to $736 million as of January 2015. As of June 2019, Saba managed $1.7 billion in assets.
Philanthropy
Weinstein serves on the Board of Directors of Stuyvesant High School and is also a Leadership Council member for Robin Hood, New York’s largest poverty-fighting organization.
Weinstein's philanthropy has focused on public school education, New York City, and Jewish causes.
Personal life
In 2010, Weinstein married Tali Farhadian in Manhattan, New York. Tali was born in 1975 in Iran to a Jewish family that fled after the fall of the Shah in 1979. She is a Rhodes Scholar and was previously a Supreme Court clerk, an attorney with the United States Department of Justice.
In 2012, Weinstein was reported to have bought a $25.5 million property on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, from the estate of Huguette Clark.