LONDON (Reuters) – BlueCrest Capital Management, the investment firm co-founded by billionaire Michael Platt, has won part of a London court battle to block an attempt by the markets watchdog to order a redress scheme for investors worth more than an estimated $700 million.
London judges said they had struck out the proposal by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which they said lacked detail about losses suffered by customers and breaches to duties or regulatory requirements.
In a ruling published on Wednesday, they said the FCA estimated the redress sum to be more than $700 million but that the regulator’s penalty decision notice demonstrated “muddled thinking”.
However, the FCA also proposed fining the former hedge fund 41 million pounds ($52 million) in 2021 for conflict of interest failings over a fund set up for BlueCrest staff.
That part of the case remains ongoing.
The FCA has said BlueCrest failed to manage fairly a conflict of interest created by switching portfolio managers working on a fund open to investors outside BlueCrest to an internal fund open to partners and employees, leading to “substandard” client service between 2011 and 2015.
The regulator declined to comment on Thursday.
BlueCrest did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
($1 = 0.7853 pounds)
(Reporting by Kirstin Ridley; editing by Diane Craft)
