Nella’s Ad Ignores Massive Scandals During Her Tenure at World’s Largest Hedge Fund

Jun

2024

PRESS RELEASE

Nella’s Ad Ignores Massive Scandals During Her Tenure at World’s Largest Hedge Fund

Multimillionaire Hedge Fund Executive’s TV Ad Touts Resume, But Glosses Over Troubling Record at Bridgewater Associates

Nella Domenici, a multimillionaire former hedge fund executive who parachuted into New Mexico to run for Senate, is currently airing a misleading ad that has already been widely panned by New Mexico political observers as “weak” and “not compelling.” The ad proudly touts her business resume as CFO, but conveniently ignores her troubling record at Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund.

Last week the Democratic Party pointed out that during Nella’s tenure, the company increased its investments in Chinese companies, including companies that were controlled by the Chinese military and would later be sanctioned. But that’s not all: the company also faced massive scandals over the unacceptable ways the company treated its employees.

“While Nella's ad promotes her time as a CFO, it conveniently skips over the scandals and unethical practices at Bridgewater Associates under her watch,” said Democratic Party of New Mexico Spokesperson Daniel Garcia. “It's essential for New Mexicans to know the full story, not just the polished version.”

The New York Times reported in 2017 that Bridgewater had “developed a corporate philosophy that resembles a cross between a religion and something of a cult.”

In 2016, while Domenici was CFO, Bridgewater said that about one-fifth of new hires at the firm left within the first year, while current and former staff members reported that the pressure within the company was so great, that employees were sometimes seen crying in the bathrooms. Bridgewater held regular meetings called “public hangings” in which employees at the firm would criticize each other.”

The company also had an intense culture of surveillance in which staff were constantly being monitored by video cameras, and virtually all meetings were recorded, while employees called “overseers'' reported on what was captured back to top executives. Recordings were also distributed company-wide that showed employees being berated and driven to tears.