Secret Network Connects Harvard Money to Payday Loans

By Zeke Faux | Sep 4, 2014 1:17 PM ET

Alex Slusky was under pressure to put the money in his private-equity fund to work.

The San Francisco technology financier had raised $1.2 billion in 2007 to buy and turn around struggling software companies. By 2012, investors including Harvard University were upset that about half the money hadn’t been used, according to three people with direct knowledge of the situation.