Fake PE fund?

PE folks - tell me if this is as much BS as I think it is... I just interviewed with this "PE firm" that has been posting job postings all over the place for some time now. The main guy there has no PE experience, but has been a fairly successful operator (according to him) in his industry niche, so he's raising a fund to buy companies in that niche. He has a "team", but upon further questioning, they are all retired execs that show up on his website, but not in the office. His office is full of unpaid interns and unpaid full-time people (he has convinced several ex-banking monkeys to work for him for free in return for carry once the fund is raised). He's currently fund-raising and simultaneously looking for deals (fundless sponsor type model). He's been at this for several years, supposedly working non-stop day and night (according to his poor interns). Yet, he still hasn't had a single LP commitment nor has he done a deal. The pitch was, you come work for free, eat what you kill, and get rich. Lame?

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Often times if things smell fishy, you should remove yourself from the situation. There are enough reputable employers out there in the industry that you shouldn't chase these "get rich" schemes.

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