Leopold Aschenbrenner's hedge fund Situational Awareness faced a near-collapse after a distressed sale of holdings to Citadel.
Leopold Aschenbrenner's hedge fund, Situational Awareness, underwent a significant contraction after a distressed sale of its publicly traded holdings to Ken Griffin's Citadel. The fund, which had reached a high point of roughly $45 billion in July, was reduced to approximately $10 billion following margin calls from major prime brokers including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase. These losses were primarily driven by a market downturn in July that impacted the investment strategy of Leopold Aschenbrenner, which focused on the physical buildout of AI infrastructure. The fund held more than 56% of its portfolio in Sandisk and Micron Technology, both of which saw significant price drops in July. Other top positions like Bloom Energy and Nebius Group also declined. Despite the near-collapse, the fund had posted returns exceeding 1,000% from its launch in July 2024 through June. Leopold Aschenbrenner stated in a letter to investors that the fund had taken the necessary steps to survive and pledged to learn from the experience.