U.S. hedge fund firm Citadel Investment Group, which is run by Kenneth Griffin, hired Jake Walthour as head of U.S. distribution for its asset management subsidiary, a company spokesman said on Friday.

Walthour, who co-founded New York-based investment-consulting firm Aksia LLC, will be based in New York.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Walthour left Aksia in December.

Griffin, long considered one of the industry's best managers, delivered gains of 62 percent to investors in Citadel's flagship Kensington and Wellington funds in 2009 after large losses in 2008, an investor told Reuters in December.

(Reporting by Ajay Kamalakaran in Bangalore; Editing by Sharon Lindores)

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