Ebullio faces bankruptcy at hands of investor
Commodities fund to be liquidated after failure to pay
Ebullio Capital Management is facing getting wound down after failing to pay a court-ordered judgement to an investor.
In March, Ebullio Capital Management was ordered to compensate a fund investor £150,000, the maximum allowable, plus 8% interest. After waiting a mandated period for payment, the investor will be filing to appoint a liquidator.
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In a recent email exchange with the investor made available to Finance Magnates, Lars Steffensen, founder and executive managing partner of the fund, accused the investor of making things “personal” and wrote: “The only thing I have scant regard for is you. And you can include scorn and slight regard in that.”
Steffensen also called the investor a “world-class coward” and “cheap, piece of shit liar”. Steffensen did not respond to a request for comment.
In a separate ruling that went against Ebullio for £100k, brought by a former partner and employee, Steffensen sent a payment of £6.66, according to bank statements made available to Finance Magnates.
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Ebullio’s activities have been reported to the UK regulator under which the fund is authorised, the FCA, a number of times. However, there has been no action taken.
Paul Barnes, a forensic accountant based in the UK, said that the FCA has “a lot of difficulties” and is overstretched with lots of similar cases. “They are very reluctant to follow up these kinds of situations because it’s costly and extremely troublesome,” he said.
Barnes added that the FCA relies on the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which pays out investors £50,000 and is a fund of last resort for customers of authorised financial services firms.
The FCA said: “Unfortunately, we will not be able to comment on this issue.”
Interesting. Perhaps this will prompt the FCA do finally make a long awaited move on a guy that has the reputation in the marketplace to screw anyone in his vicinity and more. This time however, we are not looking at the liquidation of a fund, we are looking at the asset management company being wound up. Open that Pandora’s box…..
I appreciate your comments here, thanks! Some people I’ve spoken with are really surprised that the FCA hasn’t done anything yet. Others say that it’s pretty much business as usual with cases like this, of which there seem to be more all the time. What some people are implying is that the FCA would rather just pay out from the FSCS fund instead of investigating because it’s easier. When I asked one of them: “Isn’t the reason these cases are proliferating at least partially because the FCA doesn’t take action?”, the answer was: “Yes, of course!” Also, we are definitely… Read more »
I reported him to the FCA/ FSA in 2010 and didnt receive even an acnowledgement. As far as I could tell from background checks someone who had fled NFA arbitration losses in the US. His fund was also fraulently marketed. It will be interesting to see whether his Turkish copper project really is worth $1bn….
Thanks for your comment! Quite a few questions have been raised about the valuation of the copper project and what the mining rights look like for the tailings. Please stay tuned.
Why is nobody talking about the fact that Lars is a convicted criminal (in Denmark) and that he has close connection to Hells Angels and other criminal gangs. If anyonw should doubt this, have a look at his tattoos. he has a HA support tattoo on his chest with the text “bad city crew” its a refrence to the HA in Berlin. He also walks around telling people about how he use his companies to launder money for drug cartels. ALL THIS IS FACT. I also feel VERY strongly that the 87% loss (or how much is was) was not… Read more »
the Trading Places movie poster he is pictured by. The movie is about how a street criminal becomes a commodity trader. Must be one of Lars’ favourite movies.