Goldman Sachs Earns $200M from Risky Relationship with Struggling Hedge Fund
A young hedge fund called Situational Awareness LP, launched by Leopold Aschenbrenner in April 2024, generated over $200 million in lending fees for Goldman Sachs this year.
The fund's aggressive strategy involved concentrated, leveraged bets on AI infrastructure, including chips, power, and data centers. Goldman Sachs began financing the fund shortly after its launch and showcased it at an emerging-manager conference in March 2025.
Situational Awareness' portfolio value fell by 67% in July due to a broad AI-stock selloff, causing significant losses for its investors. Jane Street, one of the fund's backers, lost approximately $15 billion tied to its exposure to Situational Awareness and other tech stocks.
Despite the losses, Goldman Sachs continued to earn fees from the relationship, while Citadel bought the fund's roughly $16 billion public-equity book at a reported discount of over 10%. The SEC has sent subpoenas to Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Bank of America seeking information on trade timing and lender communications.