The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the missing amounts in a New York-based hedge fund.

The question of what happened to the funds of Arden Capital Management, a hedge fund founded by Francis Saldutti, a L.F. Rothschild & Co. former analyst, is still veiled in obscurity. In April 2003 NorthShore Asset Management, a Chicago investment company, bought the fund from Mr. Saldutti who had at least 80% of the fund’s holdings in cash.

Hedge funds usually invest in money-market funds or other short-term investments, and the investors can easily get it out of the fund when investment opportunities come up. But some investors found their money inaccessible as Mr. Saldutti insists that money was stolen.

The size of the missing amount and reason of disappearance are unclear although Mr. Saldutti told the agency that some money was stolen after transfer out of Bank of America Corp. in an account controlled by NorthShore. A lawyer of NorthShore denied that adding that his client was fully collaborating with the SEC.

Large investment managers use every possibility to buy stakes in hedge funds combining some of their administrative functions, while for small funds it is problematic to work on their own.

NorthShore is one of the leaders in this kind of business. In July it purchased an 80% stake in Circle Trust Co., a private-equity fund in Stamford, Conn.

There is different information in terms of NorthShore’s financial operations. According to Kevin Kelley, former company’s chief executive, they controlled $11 billion in assets of which $1 billion is invested in hedge funds. The company is also said to be conducting negotiations for a big stake in Banjalucka Pivara, Boston’s largest brewery last year and investing in Startech Environmental Corporation.