AQR research repeatedly argues that factor diversification can matter more than simply owning many securities. A portfolio containing hundreds of stocks may still be dominated by one underlying risk factor. Combining value, momentum, quality and defensive characteristics may produce a more diversified return profile because the factors do not always perform well at the same time.
The 2018-2020 period showed that this diversification is not guaranteed. Several systematic strategies, particularly value, experienced unusually severe and persistent weakness. That period became one of the most important stress tests in AQR's history.
THE 2018-2020 "QUANT WINTER" AND WHY IT MATTERS
AQR publicly acknowledges the difficult period from roughly 2018 through 2020. Its own research has described this era as a severe drawdown for value-oriented and style-premia strategies. The firm later referred to the episode in research discussing the "Quant Winter."
AQR's analysis of the drawdown argued that value became historically inexpensive relative to expensive growth stocks and that other factors did not sufficiently offset those losses during key parts of the period. The environment became particularly painful as large technology and growth companies dominated market returns while traditional valuation signals deteriorated.
This period matters because it disproves any simplistic claim that systematic diversification eliminates major drawdowns. Even strategies supported by decades of academic research can experience prolonged periods of poor performance.
AQR's response was notable because the firm did not publicly abandon factor investing. Instead, it published extensive research defending the underlying economic logic and examining whether the drawdown represented a structural breakdown or an extreme valuation event.
Subsequent factor performance improved materially after 2020, which AQR has cited when discussing the danger of abandoning systematic strategies after large drawdowns. Its 2026 "Academic Alpha" research revisits this history and argues that style premia remain useful sources of long-term diversification despite the 2018-2020 experience.
Investors should still treat that recovery carefully. A successful rebound does not prove that every factor will always recover or that future drawdowns will resemble past ones. The correct lesson is that systematic investing can experience multi-year periods where historically robust signals perform very differently from long-term averages.
MULTI-STRATEGY, MARKET NEUTRAL, ARBITRAGE AND ALTERNATIVE RISK PREMIA
AQR extends factor logic beyond long-only equities. Many of its alternative strategies are long/short or market-neutral. Instead of merely overweighting cheap companies, for example, a market-neutral strategy may buy relatively attractive securities and short relatively unattractive ones while seeking to reduce overall market exposure.
This approach can isolate factor returns more directly but requires short selling, derivatives and leverage. Those tools can improve capital efficiency and diversification, but they also introduce financing, counterparty and liquidity risks.
Alternative risk premia strategies extend systematic factors across equities, bonds, currencies and commodities. Signals may include value, momentum or trend, carry and defensive characteristics across multiple markets.
AQR's research argues that these strategies can provide return sources that are less correlated with traditional equity and bond beta. Its 2026 "Academic Alpha" paper specifically revisited style-premia investing as a potentially liquid and transparent complement to traditional asset classes.
The implementation challenge is substantial. Expected factor premiums are often modest before leverage. Institutional managers therefore frequently scale positions using derivatives or financing. If correlations unexpectedly converge during a crisis, a portfolio designed to hold many diversified trades can experience losses across multiple positions at the same time.
Transaction costs are another issue. Academic factor returns are generally measured before real-world costs. Actual managers must account for bid-ask spreads, market impact, financing costs, short-borrow expense, taxes and execution delays.
AQR has spent decades developing implementation techniques designed to reduce these frictions, but the gap between theoretical and realized returns remains one of the most important questions in quantitative investing.
TREND FOLLOWING AND MANAGED FUTURES
Trend following is another major area associated with AQR. Trend strategies attempt to capture persistent directional moves across markets such as equities, government bonds, currencies and commodities.
Rather than forecasting whether oil is fundamentally cheap or whether interest rates should rise, a trend strategy measures price behavior and systematically takes positions based on sustained market direction.
Trend following can be particularly useful during large macroeconomic moves. Strategies have historically benefited during some extended equity bear markets, commodity shocks and major interest-rate trends.
But trend is not guaranteed protection. Rapidly reversing markets can create "whipsaw" losses because the strategy reacts only after a trend develops and can remain positioned after conditions change.
The 2022 inflation and rate shock renewed institutional interest in managed futures because strong trends across bonds, currencies and commodities created opportunities for systematic macro strategies. AQR continues to research trend following as a portfolio diversifier and in 2026 again discussed commodities and trend strategies as possible inflation hedges.
AQR FLEX SERIES: WHAT SERIES J24 ACTUALLY TELLS US
AQR Flex 1 Series LLC – Series J24 is legally distinct from AQR's public mutual funds and broad flagship hedge funds. It is a Delaware series LLC vehicle created in 2026.
The Form D directly states:
AQR Capital Management II, LLC is the issuer's manager. AQR Capital Management, LLC is the investment manager. The vehicle is a hedge fund / pooled investment fund. It relies on Rule 506(b). It relies on Section 3(c)(7). Its first sale occurred March 25, 2026. The offering is indefinite. The minimum outside investment reported is $15,000,000. The filing reports $25,131,844 sold. There is one investor. The amount sold includes Regulation D and Regulation S sales. AQR Investments LLC and UBS Financial Services Inc. appear in the sales-compensation section. The issuer reports $0 sales commissions and $0 finder's fees paid by the issuer. The manager or affiliate is entitled to an annual management fee based on assets under management.
The one-investor structure is particularly informative. A $25.13 million vehicle with one investor and a $15 million minimum is far more consistent with a customized institutional allocation than with a broadly distributed hedge fund.
The name "Flex" may suggest flexible or customized implementation, but the Form D does not define the strategy, and FilingDossier should not invent an expansion or assume that J24 represents one particular factor strategy.
The existence of an umbrella entity and many series can allow AQR to establish legally separate portfolios for different institutional clients, strategies, risk budgets or implementation requirements. Investors should obtain the current private placement memorandum or investment management agreement to determine the actual mandate.
AQR INVESTMENTS AND UBS: DISTRIBUTION INFRASTRUCTURE
The Form D identifies AQR Investments, LLC with CRD 289244 and UBS Financial Services Inc. with CRD 8174 in the solicitation section.
AQR Investments is part of AQR's distribution architecture. The presence of an affiliated distribution entity is consistent with AQR's broader business selling registered and private investment products through institutional and intermediary channels.
UBS Financial Services is an independently identifiable major broker-dealer and wealth-management organization. Its presence in the Form D indicates that Series J24 may have been distributed, introduced or serviced through a large financial intermediary.
This does not mean UBS guarantees the fund or has endorsed its performance. Broker-dealer participation is not investment approval. But it is a useful third-party structural signal because it shows that the subscription process includes recognized regulated institutions rather than an anonymous unregistered placement agent.
The filing's $0 sales commissions should also be interpreted narrowly. It means the issuer did not report paying sales commissions or finder's fees. It does not mean the investor pays no management fee, advisory fee, platform fee or other economic expense.
The Form D explicitly states that the investment manager or affiliate is entitled to an annual management fee based on a specified percentage of assets under management. The percentage itself is not disclosed in the public filing.
PUBLIC FUNDS, MUTUAL FUNDS, UCITS AND THE RETAIL / INSTITUTIONAL BRIDGE
AQR differs from many hedge fund brands because its investment ideas are available through several regulatory wrappers.
The firm entered U.S. mutual funds in 2009. AQR Funds remains an SEC-registered investment company complex. Current 2026 SEC filings identify One Greenwich Plaza as the fund complex address and AQR Capital Management as investment adviser.
The firm launched UCITS funds in 2012, giving European investors access to systematic strategies under a regulated fund framework.
AQR also operates ETFs and other registered products. The SEC has granted multiple Investment Company Act orders related to AQR funds, including interfund lending, exchange-traded fund structures, fund-of-funds arrangements and a 2026 order involving AQR Delphi Long-Short Fund.
This product architecture means AQR is not dependent on one flagship hedge fund. Its intellectual property—factor investing, long/short portfolio construction, trend following and tax-aware investing—can be delivered through private funds, public mutual funds, separately managed accounts and institutional mandates.
For an investor in AQR Flex J24, however, this broad product ecosystem should not substitute for vehicle-specific diligence. A strategy in a private series may use more leverage, different liquidity, customized constraints or a different tax structure than a public AQR mutual fund.
AQR DELPHI LONG-SHORT FUND AND 2026 PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
AQR continued introducing and restructuring investment products in 2026. The SEC issued an Investment Company Act notice in May and an order in June relating to AQR Delphi Long-Short Fund.
The order concerned a multi-class structure rather than an endorsement of investment performance. Still, it demonstrates continued product development and regulatory activity around long-short investing.
Long-short structures are central to AQR's philosophy because they can seek factor exposure without requiring investors to accept full equity-market beta.
They can also allow greater control over portfolio volatility and factor balance. But they involve shorting and potentially derivatives, which increases operational complexity compared with a conventional long-only fund.
AQR's private vehicles can use even broader tools depending on mandate. The precise instruments used by Series J24 are not visible in Form D.
AQR'S 2026 RESEARCH AGENDA: TOTAL PORTFOLIO, PORTABLE ALPHA AND "ACADEMIC ALPHA"
One of AQR's strongest differentiators is the amount of investment research it publishes publicly. In 2026 alone, the firm published work on total portfolio approaches, portable alpha, factor investing, climate-related portfolio measurement, tax-aware investing and inflation hedging.
Its August 2026 "Academic Alpha" paper revisited alternative risk premia and style premia after the difficult 2018-2020 environment. AQR argues that well-researched systematic factors can offer liquid and transparent sources of return that are distinct from conventional market beta.
AQR also published 2026 research on the total portfolio approach. The basic argument is that large investors may benefit from thinking about portfolio risks and desired outcomes at the total-fund level rather than managing each asset class in isolation.
Portable alpha fits into that framework. Investors may obtain market exposure efficiently through derivatives and allocate capital separately to alpha strategies, potentially improving capital efficiency. This is conceptually attractive but depends on the alpha source actually delivering returns after financing and implementation costs.
AQR's willingness to publish methodology is a major advantage for diligence because investors can evaluate the intellectual framework rather than relying only on confidential marketing materials.
It also creates an interesting reputational risk: because Asness and other AQR researchers publicly defend their views in detail, periods of weak factor performance can produce highly visible debates about whether the models still work.
CLIFF ASNESS, ACADEMIC RESEARCH AND PUBLIC DEBATE
Cliff Asness remains one of the most visible hedge fund managers in academic and financial-market debate. AQR identifies him as a researcher as well as CIO, with publications in The Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Financial Analysts Journal and Journal of Portfolio Management.
He has received multiple Bernstein Fabozzi/Jacobs Levy Awards and other academic-investment research honors.
This research background is directly relevant to AQR's brand because the firm markets itself around evidence-based investing rather than proprietary discretionary intuition.
Asness is also a highly active public commentator. His strong opinions about valuation, factor investing, market efficiency and investment behavior generate significant media visibility.
That visibility can help explain AQR's strategies to investors, but investors should distinguish public commentary from portfolio positions. AQR runs diversified systematic models; an Asness interview criticizing an expensive market segment does not necessarily mean the firm has made a concentrated directional short against that segment.
PUBLIC 13F FOOTPRINT AND WHY IT CANNOT BE READ LIKE A TRADITIONAL STOCK-PICKER PORTFOLIO
AQR's June 30, 2026 Form 13F identifies AQR Capital Management as institutional investment manager and confirms CRD 111883 and SEC file 801-55543.
AQR can appear in hundreds or thousands of listed securities because systematic strategies diversify widely. This is fundamentally different from a concentrated hedge fund where the top 10 holdings may represent most of portfolio risk.
A large AQR position in one stock may be part of a factor portfolio, an index-like mandate, an arbitrage position, a hedge or a tax-aware strategy. Reading the 13F as a list of Cliff Asness's personal "favorite stocks" would therefore be misleading.
The 13F also omits important economic exposures. It does not show most short positions, futures, currency forwards, swaps, many foreign securities or commodities.
This limitation is especially important for AQR because long/short and derivative exposures can represent a substantial share of risk. The public long holdings may therefore look strongly directional even when the economic portfolio has much lower net market exposure.
For SEO and investor education, a FilingDossier article should make this distinction clearly. Search results often publish lists titled "AQR's top stocks," but those lists can tell very little about the actual risk profile of a diversified quantitative manager.
SKECHERS APPRAISAL LITIGATION: AN EXAMPLE OF ACTIVE OWNERSHIP RATHER THAN REGULATORY MISCONDUCT
AQR also appears in current corporate litigation as a shareholder. Reuters reported in November 2025 that AQR and other investors pursued appraisal litigation in Delaware challenging the valuation of 3G Capital's approximately $9.4 billion acquisition of Skechers.
The investors argued that the $63-per-share transaction price undervalued the company and sought a judicial determination of fair value for millions of shares.
This should not be described as litigation "against AQR." AQR was one of the shareholders asserting appraisal rights.
The case demonstrates that a quantitative manager can still engage in legal actions around corporate transactions when investment rights are affected. It also shows that systematic investing does not necessarily mean passive ownership.
AQR's involvement in this kind of case should be analyzed separately from regulatory or disciplinary matters involving the investment adviser itself.
REGULATORY RECORD AND NEGATIVE-EVIDENCE REVIEW
AQR Capital Management has been SEC registered for decades and operates under one of the more extensive public regulatory footprints among quantitative managers.
The reviewed current primary sources identify the firm as SEC registered under CRD 111883 and SEC file 801-55543. The 2026 Form 13F uses the same identifiers.
The SEC has also issued multiple Investment Company Act orders involving AQR products, including earlier fund-of-funds and interfund-lending relief, ETF-related orders and the 2026 AQR Delphi order.
These orders reflect product structure and regulatory exemptions or permissions. They should not be interpreted as SEC approval of AQR's investment performance.
No major current SEC enforcement action against AQR Capital Management comparable to the historical SAC/Point72 criminal context was identified in the primary material reviewed for this article.
That statement should remain limited. Large asset managers can be involved in examinations, commercial litigation, employment claims, portfolio-company disputes or other matters that do not appear as headline SEC enforcement cases.
AQR's more meaningful public negative history is investment performance during difficult factor periods rather than a defining manager-level fraud case. The 2018-2020 drawdown damaged confidence in systematic value and alternative risk-premia strategies and reportedly contributed to meaningful asset outflows across the quantitative industry.
For investors, this is an important reminder that "evidence based" does not mean "low drawdown."
MODEL RISK: WHAT IF THE DATA IS RIGHT BUT THE WORLD CHANGES
Model risk is central to AQR.
A systematic strategy assumes that relationships observed in historical data have economic or behavioral reasons likely to persist. Value, momentum and quality each have plausible explanations, but market structure changes.
Information travels faster than it did 30 years ago. Trading is more algorithmic. More managers use alternative data. Transaction costs change. Central banks alter market behavior. Passive investment flows can affect valuations.
A factor can therefore remain academically valid while becoming harder to monetize.
Backtests create another danger. Researchers can unintentionally discover patterns that existed only by chance. AQR and academic researchers attempt to reduce this risk by requiring economic intuition, robustness across markets and long historical samples, but no statistical process eliminates overfitting completely.
The larger the research organization becomes, the more important governance around model approval becomes. Investors should understand how AQR distinguishes durable signals from data-mined anomalies.
CROWDING AND FACTOR CRASH RISK
A successful investment idea can attract competitors.
If many funds simultaneously buy similar value stocks, short similar expensive stocks or use similar momentum models, the positions can become crowded.
Crowding does not automatically eliminate expected returns, but it can make exits more dangerous.
When investors de-risk simultaneously, correlations can rise and previously diversified portfolios can experience large losses.
Quantitative history contains several examples of rapid factor reversals. The August 2007 "quant quake" produced sharp losses across many systematic equity portfolios even though broader equity indexes did not experience a comparable collapse.
AQR survived that event and subsequent crises, but the episode remains relevant because it shows how strategies built by different firms can become correlated through similar signals.
AQR's diversification across markets and factors is designed partly to reduce this risk, yet crowding remains impossible to eliminate entirely.
LEVERAGE, DERIVATIVES AND FINANCING RISK
Long/short factor portfolios frequently require leverage to achieve meaningful expected returns because the underlying spreads between long and short assets may be modest.
Leverage can transform a diversified portfolio of small expected edges into an attractive return target. It can also amplify errors.
A 2% adverse movement in an unleveraged position may be manageable. If the same exposure is scaled several times through derivatives or financing, the effect on capital can become much larger.
Derivatives introduce counterparty risk. AQR may transact with global banks in swaps, futures, forwards and financing arrangements depending on strategy.
Institutional managers typically diversify counterparties and collateral arrangements, but periods of market stress can still create financing pressure.
The Form D for Series J24 does not disclose leverage, derivatives exposure or prime-broker relationships.
The investor therefore needs vehicle-specific documentation rather than relying on AQR's general description of risk management.
LIQUIDITY AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIQUID ASSETS AND LIQUID STRATEGIES
Many AQR strategies invest in highly liquid listed markets, but that does not mean every portfolio can be unwound instantly without cost.
A large systematic manager can hold thousands of positions. If models call for simultaneous repositioning, execution can create market impact.
Small-cap, emerging-market or less-liquid futures exposures can be especially sensitive.
Short positions may become difficult or expensive to borrow.
Leverage can also convert a liquidity problem into a financing problem if counterparties demand additional collateral.
Series J24's $25.13 million size is modest relative to AQR's global platform, but the investor should determine whether it invests directly, allocates to a larger master portfolio or receives exposure through derivatives.
If the series feeds into a much larger underlying fund, liquidity risk should be evaluated at the master-fund level rather than merely at the $25 million feeder level.
TAX-AWARE INVESTING AND CUSTOMIZATION
AQR has invested heavily in tax-aware systematic investing, an area increasingly important to private wealth and institutional investors.
Traditional factor portfolios can generate substantial turnover. Frequent realization of gains can reduce after-tax returns for taxable investors even if pre-tax performance is strong.
Tax-aware portfolio construction attempts to preserve desired factor exposures while harvesting losses, deferring gains and controlling tracking error.
AQR's 2026 research continues to explore liquidity and withdrawals from tax-aware portfolios without unnecessarily destroying tax efficiency.
This broader capability may help explain why AQR uses flexible series structures. Large institutional or taxable investors increasingly demand customized mandates rather than identical pooled funds.
However, there is not enough public information to state that Series J24 is specifically a tax-aware strategy. Its legal structure supports customization, but the actual mandate remains private.
AUM SCALE, CLIENT CONCENTRATION AND ORGANIZATIONAL RISK
AQR's enormous scale provides advantages.
The firm can support large research teams, advanced computing infrastructure, global execution systems, extensive datasets and institutional compliance operations.
It can negotiate financing and trading relationships with major global counterparties.
It can also diversify revenue across hedge funds, mutual funds, UCITS, institutional mandates and advisory relationships.
But size creates its own problems.
Some factor strategies have limited capacity. If assets become too large relative to market liquidity, implementation costs rise.
Institutional client flows can also be substantial. A major pension redemption may involve billions of dollars.
Quantitative strategies are particularly vulnerable to investor behavior because clients can lose patience after several years of underperformance. The 2018-2020 period demonstrated how difficult it can be to retain capital during an extended factor drawdown.
AQR's large and diversified product platform reduces dependence on a single strategy, but investors should still monitor firmwide asset flows and capacity by strategy.
SERVICE PROVIDERS, LEGAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND OPERATIONAL DEPTH
AQR's registered fund filings show a highly institutional legal and operational network.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett appears as outside counsel in current AQR Funds SEC filings.
The fund complex itself files extensive registration statements and prospectus amendments with the SEC.
AQR Investments provides distribution infrastructure.
Series J24's Form D identifies UBS Financial Services as an additional solicitation channel.
The precise administrator, auditor, prime brokers, custodian and valuation agents for Series J24 are not visible in the core Form D.
Those parties should be verified directly from current subscription and audited financial documents.
For a sophisticated quantitative strategy, investors should also understand cybersecurity, disaster recovery, model governance, trade-error policies and independent valuation controls.
AQR's scale makes it reasonable to expect substantial infrastructure, but institutional diligence should verify rather than assume those controls.
ENTITY PENETRATION AND GOOGLE-FRIENDLY DISTINCTIONS
The legal chain for Series J24 is unusually clear:
Fund: AQR Flex 1 Series LLC – Series J24 CIK: 0002114685 Umbrella: AQR Flex 1 Series LLC Manager / Promoter: AQR Capital Management II, LLC Investment Manager: AQR Capital Management, LLC Investment Adviser CRD: 111883 SEC Adviser File: 801-55543 Distributor / Solicitation Entity: AQR Investments, LLC AQR Investments CRD: 289244 External Distribution Entity Listed: UBS Financial Services Inc. UBS CRD: 8174 Headquarters: One Greenwich Plaza, Suite 130, Greenwich, Connecticut Founders: Cliff Asness, David Kabiller, Robert Krail and John Liew Firm Founded: 1998 Meaning of AQR: Applied Quantitative Research
The fund also has LEI 2549001NURKCB4KTCF78. Its LEI record identifies AQR Capital Management at One Greenwich Plaza as headquarters and records the fund as an active 2026-created sub-fund.
Search engines can easily confuse one AQR private series with AQR Funds, AQR Trust, AQR Delphi Long-Short Fund, AQR mutual funds, AQR UCITS funds or another AQR Flex series.
They belong to the same broader manager platform but are not the same legal vehicle.
A Google-friendly FilingDossier article should therefore repeatedly connect Series J24 with CIK 0002114685, AQR Flex 1 Series LLC, AQR Capital Management and the $25.13 million one-investor offering rather than combining financial data across unrelated AQR products.
FINAL ASSESSMENT
AQR Flex 1 Series LLC – Series J24 has an exceptionally strong manager-level verification profile. The fund was organized in Delaware in 2026, began selling interests on March 25, filed its Form D on April 9 and amended the filing on June 25. Public SEC data shows $25,131,844 sold to one investor with a $15 million minimum investment, Rule 506(b), Section 3(c)(7), and an indefinite offering.
The relationship to AQR is direct rather than speculative. The SEC filing explicitly names AQR Capital Management II as manager and promoter and AQR Capital Management as investment manager. AQR Investments and UBS Financial Services appear in the distribution section. The vehicle uses AQR's Greenwich headquarters and has a separate active LEI.
The sponsor itself is one of the most extensively documented systematic investment managers globally. AQR was founded in 1998 by Cliff Asness, David Kabiller, Robert Krail and John Liew and grew from a single multistrategy hedge fund into a platform spanning hedge funds, long-only mandates, mutual funds, UCITS, systematic macro, factor investing, tax-aware strategies and registered funds. SEC-filed third-party documents put AQR's AUM at approximately $187.3 billion at December 31, 2025.
The firm's research franchise is a substantial differentiator. AQR publishes extensively on value, momentum, quality, defensive investing, trend following, alternative risk premia, portfolio construction, tax-aware investing and total portfolio approaches. That transparency allows investors to understand the economic logic behind the strategies much better than at many proprietary quantitative firms.
The strongest negative evidence is not a major current regulatory enforcement case but the historical reality of factor drawdowns. The 2018-2020 Quant Winter demonstrated that diversified systematic investing can still experience severe multi-year losses. Factor crowding, model failure, leverage, rapid correlation changes, transaction costs and investor redemptions remain important risks.
Series J24 adds another layer of uncertainty because the exact mandate is private. The one-investor structure strongly suggests a customized institutional portfolio, but the public Form D does not disclose whether the series uses equity factors, alternative risk premia, trend, arbitrage, tax-aware strategies, a combination of AQR programs or some other mandate.
An institutional investor should therefore obtain the current PPM or management agreement, strategy description, leverage limits, gross and net exposure, performance record, liquidity terms, fee schedule, derivative counterparties, administrator, auditor, custodian, valuation methodology and relationship to any master portfolio.
The fund's legal identity and connection to AQR are highly credible. The central diligence issue is not whether Series J24 is real, but what precise systematic risk the investor owns and whether that risk is appropriately compensated after leverage, implementation costs and fees.
SEC SNAPSHOT
Issuer: AQR Flex 1 Series LLC – Series J24 CIK: 0002114685 SEC File Number: 021-579761 LEI: 2549001NURKCB4KTCF78 Entity Type: Limited Liability Company / Series Fund Jurisdiction: Delaware Year Organized: 2026 Headquarters: One Greenwich Plaza, Suite 130, Greenwich, CT 06830 Phone: 203-742-3600 SEC Industry: Pooled Investment Fund / Hedge Fund Initial Form D Filed: April 9, 2026 Latest Identified Amendment: June 25, 2026 Date of First Sale: March 25, 2026 Offering Duration: More Than One Year Offering Size: Indefinite Offering Exemption: Rule 506(b) Investment Company Act Exclusion: Section 3(c)(7) Total Amount Sold: $25,131,844 Reported Investors: 1 Minimum Investment: $15,000,000 Non-Accredited Investors: None reported Sales Commissions Paid by Issuer: $0 Finder's Fees Paid by Issuer: $0 Regulation S Included in Amount Sold: Yes Manager / Promoter: AQR Capital Management II, LLC Investment Manager: AQR Capital Management, LLC Investment Adviser CRD: 111883 SEC Adviser File: 801-55543 AQR CIKs Listed in Form ADV: 0001061303 / 0001167557 Affiliated Distribution Entity: AQR Investments, LLC AQR Investments CRD: 289244 External Solicitation Entity Listed: UBS Financial Services Inc. UBS CRD: 8174 Management Fee: Filing confirms annual AUM-based management fee; exact percentage not publicly disclosed Firm Name Meaning: Applied Quantitative Research AQR Founded: 1998 Founders: Cliff Asness; David Kabiller; Robert Krail; John Liew Chief Investment Officer: Cliff Asness Headquarters Moved to Greenwich: 2004 First Long-Only Product: 2000 First U.S. Mutual Funds: 2009 First UCITS Funds: 2012 Reported AUM at December 31, 2025: Approximately $187.3 billion in SEC-filed third-party fund disclosure Reported AUM at September 30, 2025: Approximately $166.1 billion in another SEC-filed fund document Primary Strategies: Equity; Global Macro; Arbitrage; Multi-Strategy; Factor Investing; Alternative Risk Premia; Trend Following; Tax-Aware Investing; Long/Short; Long-Only Core Factors: Value; Momentum; Quality; Defensive / Low Risk Public Registered Fund Platform: AQR Funds 2026 SEC Product Development: AQR Delphi Long-Short Fund Investment Company Act notice/order Current SEC 13F Manager: AQR Capital Management LLC 13F File Number: 028-10120 Major Historical Stress Period: 2018-2020 Quant Winter / value-factor drawdown 2026 Research Themes: Academic Alpha; Total Portfolio Approach; Portable Alpha; Inflation Hedging; Tax-Aware Investing; Climate Measurement Representative Current Corporate Litigation Role: AQR sought appraisal rights as a Skechers shareholder following the 3G Capital acquisition; this is investor litigation, not enforcement against AQR Major Current SEC Enforcement Identified in Reviewed Primary Sources: No defining current manager-level enforcement action identified; investors should still review the latest Form ADV disciplinary disclosures Current Series J24 Complete Portfolio: Not publicly disclosed Current Series J24 Strategy: Not publicly disclosed in Form D Current Series J24 Net Performance: Not publicly disclosed Current Series J24 Leverage: Not publicly disclosed Current Series J24 Derivatives Exposure: Not publicly disclosed Current Series J24 Auditor / Administrator / Prime Broker: Requires current private fund documents Primary Risks: Model risk, factor cyclicality, crowding, value and momentum crashes, leverage, derivatives, counterparty exposure, short-borrow risk, liquidity, transaction costs, model overfitting, correlation convergence, institutional redemption risk and strategy opacity at the individual series level Entity Confusion Warning: Do not confuse AQR Flex 1 Series J24 with AQR Funds, AQR Trust, AQR Delphi Long-Short Fund or other AQR Flex series; they share a manager but are separate legal vehicles. Duplicate Brand Rule: AQR Capital Management, AQR Flex series, AQR Funds, AQR Trust, AQR Delphi, AQR Investments and closely related AQR-managed private vehicles belong to the same broader AQR brand for FilingDossier deduplication unless a specifically requested vehicle requires separate coverage. Independent Conclusion: AQR Flex 1 Series LLC – Series J24 is a highly verifiable institutional hedge-fund series directly managed by AQR Capital Management. SEC Form D, Form ADV, 13F filings, registered-fund filings, LEI records and AQR's extensive research platform provide strong independent evidence of the manager and structure. The principal unresolved issues are the specific J24 strategy, leverage, liquidity, fee economics and vehicle-level performance rather than the identity or institutional existence of AQR.
Independent research summary based on SEC Form D, Form ADV, Form 13F, Investment Company Act records, AQR public research and corporate disclosures, LEI data and independent financial reporting. Form D filing, SEC adviser registration, Investment Company Act orders and broker-dealer participation do not constitute SEC approval, verification of performance or a guarantee of investor returns.