
Citadel Buys Out Aschenbrenner's $20B AI Fund After 4x Leverage Triggers Margin Calls
Situational Awareness LP, the AI-focused hedge fund run by 25-year-old former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, sold the bulk of its public equity portfolio to Ken Griffin's Citadel on 30 July 2026 after margin calls from Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Bank of America. The fund had returned roughly 439% and peaked near $45 billion before July's AI selloff wiped out the equity backing its nearly 4x leverage.

