[seanhunter]

You'd be surprised. There is an entire "Fund of Funds" industry for example[1] that literally just takes people's money and takes a fee for putting it in other people's funds. The people putting money in the FOF could just as easily put it in the other funds themselves (the FOF disclose which funds they are in) and would get more money because they would have one less layer of fees to pay. Yet it exists. Their returns are intrinsically poor[2], their rationale for existance (that they do additional due dilligence on the underlying funds) is manifestly untrue[3].

[1] Check out people like skybridge capital as the most high-profile example https://skybridge.com/

[2] See for instance Buffett's bet against Protege Partners https://www.wallstreetphysician.com/warren-buffett-bet-sp-50...

[3] eg Bramdean's spectacular losses on Madoff https://www.ft.com/content/ea15b152-72f4-11de-ad98-00144feab...