Who it's for
Three rooms, one message
The same true story lands differently depending on who is listening. Each engagement is shaped for the room in front of it.
Hedge funds & broker-dealers
Annual or onboarding conduct training that supplements — not replaces — your CCO's program. Delivered to the investment team, not just compliance.
How it runs →
Symposia & conferences
Keynotes and panels for compliance, legal and industry events — from IA Watch to in-house GC summits.
Keynote topics →
Academia
Guest lectures for law schools, business schools and ethics programs on how insider-trading law actually works in practice.
Lecture formats →The Tradecraft Triangle™
Three seats at the table. One person has sat in all of them.
Law firms know the statute. Compliance departments know the procedures. Traders know the pressure. Almost nobody has seen the same trade from every side — and then from a federal courtroom. That's the Tradecraft Triangle.
- The lawM&A associate at Sullivan & Cromwell; USC Law Review; former CFA and Series 7, 63 and 55 holder.
- The deskTop-ranked portfolio manager; founder of Incremental Capital, a multi-strategy hedge fund that grew to 50 employees and $250M+ in assets.
- The defendantCharged with a single 3Com trade in the Bharara-era insider-trading sweep. Turned down a no-jail plea and went to trial. He knows how a case gets built, what it feels like from the inside, and what it costs — because he lived every step of it.
Compliance for the real world
We don't solve problems. We prevent them.
“There wasn't a day of my life up until the minute this happened that I ever thought something like this could happen. It was unimaginable.”— David Ganek, former owner of Level Global, after his fund was raided and closed shortly thereafter
The front line of running a hedge fund or investment firm has never been a more complicated and potentially hazardous environment. Given the enforcement climate in the US, UK and beyond, it has never been more critical that those in the trenches receive a consistent ethical message, targeted training and the occasional brutal “warning shot” to drive the message home.
The ultimate challenge is a vigorous, bulletproof compliance regime that both optimizes business performance and maximizes the odds that a firm can withstand a rogue employee or incident. Apex Tradecraft engages with financial firms that want to go beyond the traditional “bolt-on” set of rules and procedures — and insulate owners and traders from an extinction-level regulatory event.
Because in finance, unlike other industries, confidence is paramount. Even the slightest hint of impropriety can sink the entire ship, and everyone in it.
How an engagement runs
Four steps, no boilerplate
Scoping call
20 minutes with the CCO or GC on strategy, headcount, prior training, and any live issues we should steer around.
Tailored session
The story, the law (Newman, Salman, Blaszczak, the Yates Memo, MNPI in expert-network and alt-data settings) and the gray areas your team actually faces.
Open floor
Unscripted Q&A. Traders ask the questions they will not ask compliance. That is usually where the value is.
Debrief
A private read-out for the CCO on themes, red flags and suggested follow-ups. Attendance certificates on request.
What clients say
Apex has trained investment teams at multi-strategy, activist, credit, healthcare-focused and global macro managers, and at a leading fund-of-funds. From the first inquiry to the identity of our clients, everything about an engagement is kept in the strictest confidence.
guarantees
This will be unlike any compliance training your team has received. And if you are not completely satisfied, the fee is waived. Both have held since the first engagement.
About Michael Kimelman
Bestselling author, speaker, trainer
Michael Kimelman is the author of Confessions of a Wall Street Insider (Skyhorse), a former associate at Sullivan & Cromwell and the founder and managing partner of Incremental Capital, a New York multi-strategy hedge fund. His case was featured on CNBC, in the New York Times, Forbes, Fortune and the Wall Street Journal.
Today he advises firms and individuals at the intersection of law, finance and regulation, and is the Managing Partner of Dekryption Ventures.
Read his storySelected media