The article is ridiculous and is clearly written to drum up emotion with the average mom and pop investor. Most of the stuff covered is common knowledge for institutional investors and actually not that big of a deal. I work for a pension fund and we invest in a lot of private equity funds, and this article got a good laugh around the office. Yes PE firms can value their own assets during the investment period, but most investors require independent auditors to do their own valuations and all incentive payments can be repaid via clawback provisions if the valuations don't make sense. Side letters are common to almost every investor who has a decent lawyer who knows what they are doing. Just a lot of fluff.
