ZZ Top
Devaney amassed a fortune by trading subprime mortgage bonds in the decade before the financial crisis. He ran United Capital as well as a hedge fund management business. To woo clients, he threw lavish parties at conferences featuring acts like ZZ Top, the Doobie Brothers and Counting Crows and paid for celebrity speakers including Jay Leno and David Spade at dinners, according to the firm’s press releases. Wall Street firms often sponsor parties and other events to entertain clients.
The gatherings became smaller after the bottom fell out of the mortgage market in 2008, and Devaney was forced to liquidate his hedge fund holdings.
In recent years, Devaney has become an active investor once again in subprime mortgage bonds, this time sifting through piles of the old securities to find ones that may perform well. Devaney has also become a large shareholder in Ocwen Financial Corp., a mortgage payment processor that’s faced regulatory battles in recent years, according to company filings.
That trade has been a roller coaster, and Devaney said in a phone conversation that he lost as much as $50 million on the stock last year.