Circumlocution, What-About-ism Not A Winning Strategy For Hedge Fund Manager In Court

Here’s a legal strategy for you, and a popular one at that: When your former partner has you dead to rights on screwing him out of his fair share for getting your new hedge fund off the ground, just dissemble and throw around utterly unsubstantiated accusations. This is what Deutsche Bank veteran and Astra Asset Management founder Anish Mathur did when accused of withholding £10 million from the guy who allegedly introduced him to the Liechtenstein royal family.

Here’s the thing, though: It does not always work. Not even close.

Judge [Clive] Freedman also dismissed Astra’s claim of slander linked to allegations that a conversation alongside a hotel pool triggered withdrawals from the fund. The fund “has not come in any way close in proving that the statements were made,” the judge said…./In his more than 200-page ruling, the judge was critical of Mathur’s evidence to the court, saying he tried to bolster his own case./“When there was no obvious answer to questions, Mr. Mathur had a tendency to avoid the question, despite his total command of his business,” Freedman said in his ruling.

Ex-Deutsche Bank Trader Loses Fight Over Launch of His Own Fund [Bloomberg]

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