EX-MOGRAN EXECUTIVE STARTS HEDGE FUND

       Zoe Cruz, ousted as co-president of Morgan Stanley almost two years ago, is preparing to start her own hedge fund, the Wall Street Journal reported.
       Cruz, 54, is hiring employees to help her open Voras Capital Management.
       The fund will invest in distressed assets and take macroeconomic wagers on securities and currencies.
       Once viewed by analysts as a leading candidate to succeed John Mack as Morgan Stanley's chief exeucitve officer, Cruz was ousted in November 2007 after the firm disclosed US$3.7 billion (Bt123 billion) of losses on mortgage-related securities at the unit she ran. She was also Wall Street's highest-paid female executive, earning about $30 million in compensation in 2006.
       She follows other former bond traders such as Deutsche Bank's Boaz Weinstein in starting her own fund.
       Weinstein, a bond trader who lost more than $1 billion last year at Deutsche Bank, no runs Saba Capital Management in New York.
       Cruz plans to start canvassing investor interest in coming weeks.
       The fund intends to start with at least $200 million, thought the exact size has not been set, and it may not start for a number of months.
       Born in Greexe, Cruz received undergraduate and MBA defrees from Harvard University before starting her Morgan Stanley career in 1982 as a bond trader.
       She became a managing director in 1990 and helped run foreign exchange before taking charge of fixed income, commodities and foreign exchange in 2000.
       Under then-CEO Philip Purcell's leadership, Cruz clashed with her then-boss Vikran Pandit, who oversaw institutional securities, according to the book "Blue Blood and Mutiny: The Fight for the Soul of Morgan Stanley" by Patricia Beard.
       Cruz thought Pandit should allow her to take bigger trading rosks to improve revenue, while Pandit thought any blame for the division's underperformance should lie with Cruz.