"Weeks after the meltdown of two prominent Bear Stearns Cos. hedge funds that bet heavily on the market for risky home loans, the brokerage has told the funds' investors that the portfolios' assets are almost worthless, according to people familiar with the matter. The assets in Bear's more-levered fund, the High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Fund, are worth virtually nothing ... The assets in the larger, less-levered fund are worth roughly 9% of the value since the end of April... in March, before their sharp losses, the enhanced leverage fund had $638 million in investor money, while the other fund had $925 million."
from today's Wall Street Journal (fee site)

In the Financial Times (registration required), one Bear Stearns investor comments, "They are a big investment house. They are supposed to be professional. There is nothing to do now except maybe go shoot the guy who did it."

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