Ken Griffin and Citadel provide crisis capital to rescue Leopold Aschenbrenner's Situational Awareness fund from significant losses
Ken Griffin and his team at Citadel have stepped in to rescue the $24 billion Situational Awareness fund, founded by Leopold Aschenbrenner, following a period of significant losses in artificial intelligence and software stocks. The fund faced a crisis as its primary investments in AI infrastructure, such as CoreWeave and SanDisk, fell by nearly 60% in some instances, while short positions in software companies like Adobe moved sharply against it. To meet margin calls from major prime brokers including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, Leopold Aschenbrenner was forced to sell off a large portion of his publicly traded assets at a discount. Citadel's intervention provided much-needed crisis capital, allowing the fund to steady the markets and provide a narrative for the semiconductor rout. The rescue deal allowed CoreWeave to rebound by 21% and SanDisk to be sold at a more favorable price. Despite the turmoil, Leopold Aschenbrenner remains a prominent figure in the AI trade, maintaining $10 billion of assets under management and a private investment in Anthropic.