Hedge Fund Qui Tam

So how do you be a manipulative little hedgie? On the long side, you buy up enough of a company to wheedle your minions onto the board. On the short side, apparently... you bring suit against them on behalf of the US Government. WSJ reports:

Now Greenlight Capital, a fund with a big negative bet on Allied Capital Corp., is breaking into new ground -- the courts.

The $4 billion New York City fund has filed a lawsuit in federal court in Atlanta in the name of the U.S. government claiming that Business Loan Express LLC, a subsidiary of Allied Capital known as BLX, submitted fraudulent loan documents to the Small Business Administration, bilking millions of dollars from the U.S.

The government declined to intervene in November; now, Greenlight is bringing suit in their name. This battle has been going on for five years and it's probably a surprise Greenlight's attorneys didn't do this sooner.