[6][7] Despite investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission into several deals in which Magnetar Capital invested, no enforcement action was taken against the firm.

[1][9] Based in Evanston, Illinois,[10] the firm started with $1.8 billion in capital, making it one of the largest hedge-fund launches at the time.

[9] The firm launched into other areas, among them private investments in public equity, reinsurance, and traditional asset management, but turned its focus to fixed income.

When the market collapsed in 2007, Magnetar lost money on the riskiest slices it bought, but made much more from the hedges because of the relative mispricing that it had anticipated.

[15] Janet Tavakoli, a financial-industry consultant, wrote in her 2008 book, Structured Finance and Collateralized Debt Obligations, that Magnetar Capital's Constellation CDOs "seemed designed to fail".

[16] Contrary to the allegations, Magnetar Capital maintains that it did not control asset selection for the CDOs in which it invested and that the firm did not place an overall bet against the housing market.

[21] Separately, in 2012, The Wall Street Journal reported that the government sought to see if Magnetar "had such a strong influence in designing any of the deals that in effect it took over the role of collateral manager".

[26][27] The suit alleged that a Credit Agricole unit concealed Magnetar's role in the collateralized debt obligation.

[29] Following the financial crisis, the firm pivoted into quantitative trading[1] and exploring new investments, including films, commercial jets, and real estate.

In January 2013, the firm became the largest homeowner in Huber Heights, Ohio, by buying a portfolio of almost 2,000 rental homes from the family of the town's original developer.