One senior private-equity executive recalls the bemusement expressed by many Goldman Sachs bankers in March 2002 as they watched Peter Briger leave the blue-chip Wall Street group to join a four-year-old hedge fund and private-equity firm.

"Everyone was laughing at him," says the New York financier, making clear the mockery of Mr Briger was directed not at his decision to depart Goldman but at his choice of destination. At Fortress Investment Group, Mr Briger would have to share control - and profits - with Wes Edens and other executives who founded the business in 1998. By contrast, if he had been a little more audacious, Mr Briger might have used his 15-year career at Goldman to start his own hedge fund.