Weavering hedge fund boss Ulf Magnus Michael Peterson guilty of fraud
Peterson will be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Friday
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The founder of one of London’s best-known hedge funds has been found guilty of a $536m (£354m) fraud following a three-month trial at Southwark Crown Court.
Ulf Magnus Michael Peterson, a 51-year-old Swedish national, made his name in the City as an interest rate and foreign exchange trader before setting up Weavering Capital in 1998. The company reportedly had about $640m under management a decade later, yet its flagship Weavering Macro Fixed Income fund collapsed in 2009, having been swamped with investors trying to pull out money in the wake of the Lehman Brothers’ collapse.
Peterson was yesterday found guilty of eight counts of fraud, forgery, false accounting and fraudulent trading. Britain’s Serious Fraud Office said he used illegal trades to artificially inflate the Macro Fund’s investment performance and “thereby mislead investors as to its true value”.
The SFO said that over a six-year period, investors were misled into putting $780m into the Macro Fund, which was marketed as a low risk and liquid fund, primarily engaged in exchange trading. However, when investors began asking for their money back in December 2008, there was no money to give back.
Peterson will be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Friday, and has been remanded in custody until then. Investors are believed to have lost about $536m, according to the SFO.
David Green, director of the SFO, thanked “all those who assisted us with this highly complex international investigation, including investors, auditors, liquidators, the Irish Stock Exchange, City of London Police and overseas law enforcement authorities.
“Mr Peterson rewarded himself handsomely from investors’ monies, to the value of £5.8m between 2005 and 2009,” Mr Green said. “While Mr Peterson knew full well what the true value of the fund was when it collapsed, his investors did not.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments