Ex-BlueBay hedge fund manager fined £140,000
A FORMER BlueBay hedge fund manager has been banned and fined £140,000 by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for manipulating the values of his trading positions.
Simon Treacher was slapped with the largest penalty ever handed to an individual for deceiving investors after marking his portfolios up by $27m (£16.9m) over three months. He misled the FSA during the following investigation, the watchdog said.
Treacher, a senior fund manager in Bluebay’s emerging markets team, cut and pasted different figures onto seven original broker quotes used to value his funds between August and October 2008. The move artificially boosted his returns and caused investors to lose around $650,000, forcing BlueBay to pay out compensation for the amount.
Margaret Cole, director of enforcement at the FSA, said: “Our actions in banning Simon Treacher and imposing a significant fine will send a powerful message of deterrence to others who might be tempted to behave in this way. His conduct, both in mis-marking the funds and his dealings with us as the regulator, lacked integrity.”
Treacher quit BlueBay in November 2008 when the allegations first surfaced. A spokesperson was unavailable for comment yesterday.