FILE PHOTO: Norwegian-born shipping tycoon John Fredriksen speaks in Oslo, Norway, June 1, 2017. REUTERS\/Ints Kalnins\/File Photo<\/p>\n
Billionaire Fredriksen\u2019s Firm Faces $1 Billion Claim After Failed Fraud Trial<\/p>\n
By\u00a0Upmanyu Trivedi (Bloomberg) \u2014 Two former executives at billionaire<\/p>\n
\u2019s oil trading firm sued for about $1 billion in over allegations that the shipping tycoon\u2019s failed \u201cvindictive\u201d lawsuit brought them to the \u201cbrink of financial ruin.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alta Trading UK Ltd\u2019s former chief executive officer Peter Bosworth and ex-chief financial officer Colin Hurley sued after Fredriksen\u2019s firm lost a\u00a0decade-long\u00a0court case accusing them of a major fraud. A \u201cdishonestly\u201d obtained freezing order in 2015 stymied the duo\u2019s attempt to start a new oil trading venture or find another job, their lawyers alleged at the start of a London trial.<\/p>\n
Bosworth and Hurley\u2019s lawyers claimed that Fredriksen\u2019s firm engaged in vindictive and inappropriate conduct during the litigation that included asking Swiss police to investigate them.<\/p>\n
Lawyers for the two men pointed to a March 2021 WhatsApp conversation where the tycoon\u2019s daughter said \u201cI don\u2019t think more lawyers will manage to solve the\u201d case, and \u201csomething dirty has to be done to thieves like these.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fredriksen responded to her saying \u201cWe have to take the house in Switzerland and in Ibiza,\u201d lawyers said in court filings. About two years after the exchange, Arcadia\u2019s solicitors invited the Swiss police to open an investigation into Bosworth and Hurley alleging one of Hurley\u2019s Swiss property was purchased by Bosworth with fraud money, their lawyers alleged.<\/p>\n
The \u201ccolossal claim\u201d from the executives was based on \u201cflimsy evidence\u201d and was \u201cbetting on the jackpot of the new oil trading business,\u201d according to lawyers for Alta \u2014 previously known as Arcadia. There was no evidence that the failure to start the new business was a result of the freezing order, lawyers said.<\/p>\n
Bosworth and Hurley did not make any serious attempts to find jobs, the firm\u2019s lawyers said.<\/p>\n
Fredriksen, whose empire sprawls from shipping companies to salmon farms, acquired Arcadia, a then well-known oil trader, in 2006. Arcadia sued its former CEO and CFO in 2015 alleging losses of around $287 million were caused by the pair diverting oil trading profits into companies controlled by them.<\/p>\n
Since renamed as Alta Trading, it\u00a0wound down\u00a0its business in 2022. A UK judge\u00a0dismissed\u00a0the claim last year saying Bosworth and Hurley had acted in what they \u201chonestly and reasonably\u201d considered was in the Arcadia Group\u2019s best interests.<\/p>\n
Bosworth would have earned $823 million in the past decade and while Hurley would have made $318 million if the freezing order didn\u2019t prevent them from starting the oil trading business, their lawyers claimed. They would have earned about $800 million and $120 million respectively if they were in a job, they said.<\/p>\n
Lawyers for Bosworth and Hurley declined to comment. Lawyers for Alta and a spokesperson for Fredriksen didn\u2019t immediately respond to requests for further comment.<\/p>\n
\u00a9\u00a02026\u00a0Bloomberg L.P.<\/p>\n