SFO launches probe into Dynamic hedge fund
THE Serious Fraud Office has launched a criminal investigation into Dynamic Decisions Capital Management, a Mayfair-based hedge fund.
Dynamic Decisions’ flagship Growth Premium Master fund went into liquidation in May amid claims its net asset value had plummeted from $550m (£332.9m) to $20m.
The SFO said it was looking into the investment activities of the business before it identifies “whether there has been any act of dishonesty”.
It is understood some investors have lost substantial amounts.
Dynamic Decisions was set up in 2005 by Italian professor Alberto Micalizzi.
Last night a trader who worked on the fund, Paulo Belvederesi, told City A.M.: “When I left in January 2008 everything was normal. But they leveraged the portfolio twice, so it was effectively 200 per cent exposed to the market.”
In a letter to clients in February, Micalizzi said 55 per cent of the portfolio had been moved out of equities and into fixed income securities.
The FSA began investigating in March after major shareholders Strathmore Capital and Cadogan Management demanded liquidation.