Alphonse “Buddy” Fletcher – Hedge Fund Manager – $1,402,649.33

Our public records team has located an IRS federal tax lien filed on 7/29/2015 against Alphonse “Buddy” Fletcher Jr. The tax lien is connected to Fletcher’s 2010 ($1,372,097.37) and 2013 ($30,551.96) 1040 income tax debts, a total of $1,402,649.33. It was filed in New York City and is therefore a public record through NYC’s Department of Finance.

Mr Fletcher is a former hedge fund manager. His main fund, Fletcher International, may have been insolvent since 2008 and was declared bankrupt in 2012. Fletcher founded Fletcher Asset Management in 1991. He started the fund by suing his former employer Kidder, Peabody & Co. for racial discrimination. Although his racial discrimination claims were dismissed, he eventually won an arbitration award of US$1.26 million.

In February 2011, Fletcher filed a lawsuit against the Board of Directors of The Dakota (its address is referenced on Fletcher’s IRS lien) where he owned four apartments. Among other things, he alleged defamation and unlawful discrimination. Fletcher had signed a contract to purchase a fifth apartment at The Dakota, intending to combine it with his current home. The Dakota board rejected Fletcher’s application based on the financial materials he provided in his application. On his application, Fletcher listed “Duhallow Financial Services” as the independent auditor of his finances. Duhallow was located in a residential neighborhood in the Bronx, staffed by two former Fletcher employees and run by Fletcher’s attorney. The case is still pending.

Fletcher is married to Ellen Pao, a former junior partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, former Reddit CEO and no stranger to litigation herself. Pao sued Kleiner Perkins for gender discrimination in 2012. The jury returned a verdict against Pao on all counts and the court awarded $276,000 in costs to Kleiner Perkins.

Pao’s reign at Reddit was short lived and surrounded by controversy. Pao initiated a purge on what she considered offensive content while dissidents described her actions as an attack on free speech. Other complaints included inadequate moderation tools and the fact that posts critical of Pao’s lawsuit were deleted by moderators. Pao’s tenure at Reddit was so brutal that many user came to use the moniker “Chairman Pao”. She resigned in July 2015.

PDF of Alphonse Buddy Fletcher’s most recent IRS federal tax lien.