On a day when the SEC announced it's considering filing charges against Phil Falcone's Harbinger hedge fund, Falcone's attorney - Robin Roger - is finding herself in the hot seat with the SEC, as well.  On Friday, the firm said she was among three people who had received a Wells Notice from the SEC.   Ms. Roger has been General Counsel at the fund since July 2009.  The third 'Wells' Notice went to Harbinger Capital President Omar Asali, who used to be co-head of hedge fund investments at Goldman Sachs.

A Rarity. Securities experts say it's rare for regulators to bring an enforcement action against a lawyer - even rarer to go after a hedge fund's general counsel.   After all, regulators don't go after lawyers for "giving bad advice."  Of course, it's not clear what, if any management role, Ms. Roger may have had at Harbinger.

As a result of this SEC action, one hedge fund general counsel said that many hedge fund in-house lawyers will be making sure they're covered by Directors and Officers Insurance (E&O, D&O).

Robin Roger's CV. Mr. Roger has 2 Ivy League degrees, including a Harvard law degree.  Prior to joining Harbinger, she worked at Sidley Austin, then at Morgan Stanley, and finally at hedge fund Moore Capital Management.  She was with Falcone when he went through rocky times as assets shrank to under $5 billion after peaking at $26 billion on a savvy subprime bet. She also was present when Falcone - who also went to Harvard, then became a trader - borrowed $113 million from his funds to pay taxes at a time when his investors were unable to get their money out.  Falcone repaid the loan.  Nevertheless, the fact that he took a loan and didn't tell anyone rankled investors who complained that he was not being wholly honest with them. Omar Asali's CV. Mr. Asali earned an accounting degree at Va. Tech and an MBA from Columbia,.  He, too, joined Falcone in 2009, coming from Goldman Sachs which had been one of Falcone's most prominent investors.  At Goldman, Asali helped manage capital placed with outside managers, like Falcone.   [Reuters, 12/9/11]