Ken Griffin's Citadel, one of the world's largest multi-strategy hedge funds, has reportedly purchased a large portion of the public stock portfolio of Situational Awareness, the hedge fund founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, following heavy losses during July's artificial intelligence stock market rout.

The Financial Times first reported Thursday that Citadel acquired the portfolio holdings after the AI-driven sell-off. The transaction followed Aschenbrenner's fund plunging approximately 67% in July, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited a person who had seen a letter sent to investors. The letter noted that the fund remained up roughly 80% for the year. The Financial Times had previously reported the fund was up 439% through June.

Reports indicated that Situational had approached existing investors and lenders for fresh capital and offered some investors the option to purchase portfolio assets. The Journal also reported that Situational needed cash to meet margin calls from its lenders — demands for additional collateral when leveraged positions decline in value. The fund had agreed late Wednesday to sell $3.5 billion of Anthropic shares to a group led by Greenoaks and Sequoia Capital but withdrew from the deal Thursday morning.

Reuters separately reported the leveraged portfolio details but said it could not confirm whether formal margin calls had been issued before the sale. Reuters reported that Situational retained approximately $10 billion in stocks and private investments, including Anthropic. According to the FT's follow-up profile, Situational had grown to about $24 billion in assets in under two years before the reversal.

AI-linked holdings post steep July declines

Several stocks associated with the fund suffered sharp declines in July amid a broader pullback across AI-related equities. Sandisk remained down about 44% for the month even after closing Thursday up 26%. CoreWeave fell nearly 26% in July, while Bloom Energy was down around 32%, according to Yahoo Finance data.

Situational's SEC filing showed direct share positions in all three companies as of March 31. The same filing disclosed approximately $1.11 billion in shares across seven Bitcoin (BTC) mining companies, including Iren, Core Scientific, Riot Platforms, and CleanSpark. Cointelegraph previously reported that these positions gave Situational exposure to miners expanding into AI and high-performance computing by repurposing their power supplies and data center sites.

It remains unclear which specific stocks were included in the transaction between Citadel and Situational, or whether the fund retained any of its Bitcoin miner positions.

Background on Aschenbrenner and the fund's origins

Aschenbrenner's fund takes its name from his 2024 essay series, "Situational Awareness: The Decade Ahead," which argued that artificial general intelligence could arrive by 2027 and drive enormous demand for computing power and electricity. Aschenbrenner worked on OpenAI's superalignment team before his departure from the company, which was widely reported in 2024.

Before joining OpenAI, Aschenbrenner was a member of the FTX Future Fund's five-person team and signed its November 2022 resignation notice as FTX collapsed.

Cointelegraph contacted Situational Awareness and Citadel for comment but had not received a response by publication.