Orioles New PEU Owner "24-7"

Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein is now the lead owner of the Baltimore Orioles.  Major League Baseball owners unanimously approved the sale.  Approval came the day after a monster container ship destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge, killing six people.  

Rubenstein will tackle naming rights for Camden Yards.  Surely a Carlyle Group or Declaration Partners affiliate is interested in having their logo on Orioles' stadium. The following names are from the Declaration Partners family (Rubenstein's Family Office):

Stubhub

Paxos

Cava

Dataminr

Epic Games

Cadre

The Carlyle Group has 290 active portfolio companies that may wish to see their name on Camden Yards.  It's quite common for private equity underwriter (PEU) affiliates to "do business with" each other.  

Stubhub already markets Orioles tickets.  Time may or may not reveal how many of Rubenstein's corporate holdings do business with his latest purchase, the Baltimore Orioles.  

Rubenstein noted as he took over the reigns in Baltimore:

"The highest calling in mankind is private equity."

Oddly, a three judge panel suggested otherwise recently.   The appeal regarded excessive and unethical expenses billed to public pension funds.   A PEU senior advisor fraudulently billed:

... travel expenses to Montreal for a friend’s bachelor party, Miami for a friend’s wedding, Brazil for a vacation with his wife, and New Orleans for the Super Bowl. Rashid also sought reimbursement for expensive dinners and lavish gifts for his friends and family.

FT reported the appeals court: 

agreed with Rashid that the private equity firm’s expense system was broken enough at the time that Rashid himself could not have reasonably anticipated that the victims of his illicit spending spree were Apollo’s limited partners. 

"Apollo’s accounts receivable department contravened the terms of the fund partnership agreements — negligently or otherwise — and billed the funds directly for such administrative expenses.”

So the private equity underwriter (PEU) submitting fraudulent expense reports won on appeal because he was unaware of who would actually pay?

Everything about this story flies in the face of a clear, ethical contractual relationship between Apollo and its limited partners. And private equity is what Tony Robbins wants the little people to buy into, calling it "The Holy Grail" of investing.

Does anyone detect a pattern?  Highest calling, Holy Grail....   FT closed with:

The classic principal and agent relationship — where an investor outsources management of their assets to an outside party — is rife with potential conflicts of interest. One thing that should be clear is who pays for what. But the Apollo case shows that in private equity, monitoring and enforcing contract terms is not so straightforward.

Will Orioles fans be treated like PEU limited partners and be subject to surprise fees?  What interlocking arrangements exist between the club and its new ownership group?  How many more are in development? 

Rubenstein, 24-7 greed.....where every "arm's length" tagged deal is safe!