Rev. Emmanuel Lemelson is a Greek Orthodox travelling priest who also manages a $US20 million hedge fund named Amvona.
The priest set up Lemelson Capital back in 2012, creating an umbrella for his ventures, which has been running successfully for more than three years.
Lemerson was featured in The Wall Street Journal, American radio shows and has taken a short position in Netflix.
“My whole life I always knew things before they happened. I guess it’s just a gift from God,” Lemelson told The Wall Street Journal.
His popular Twitter feed links to articles about tax evasion, the Greek economic crisis and stock calls.
Christian teachings and capitalism do not strike most people as compatible disciplines, but one Boston man says he does not subscribe to this belief: Rev. Emmanuel Lemelson is a clerical-collar-wearing hedge fund manager.
The 39-year-old Greek Orthodox priest established Lemelson Capital in 2012 and runs the Amvona Fund, the Wall Street Journal reports. The faith allows priests to marry and hold other jobs.
“My whole life I always knew things before they happened. I guess it’s just a gift from God,” Lemelson told the Journal.
Lemelson, who has a Jewish father and Christian mother, became a priest after drawing inspiration from a college professor. Several years later, he was ordained by a Turkish archbishop, who later became a client of the Amvona Fund, investing his church’s money in it.
When business dips, Lemelson asks clients to “pray for the fund and disregard short-term performance.”
Lemelson told the Journal that a number of priests are well-off and use their earnings to donate to the charity. He plans to follow this model, which he calls “the supreme capital allocation decision.”
“Let’s not be poor because we’re pretending to be pious, when we really just couldn’t figure out how to make a better living,” he said.
Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump asked Lemelson for a “good luck invocation”.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, ibtimes.com