Alberto Micalizzi

FSA Levies Record Fine of £3 Million on Hedge Fund Manager Micalizzi

On 29 May 2012, the FSA published a decision notice indicating that it had decided to fine Alberto Micalizzi, CEO of Dynamic Decisions Capital Management Ltd (DDCM), a hedge fund management company based in London, £3 million and ban him from performing any role in regulated financial services for not being fit and proper. The FSA also decided to cancel the permission of DDCM to conduct regulated business.

Between 1 October 2008 and 31 December 2008, the master fund (the Fund) managed by DDCM suffered catastrophic losses of over USD390 million, approximately 85% of its value. In the FSA’s opinion, in late 2008, to conceal the losses, Mr. Micalizzi lied to investors about the true position of the Fund and entered into a number of contracts, on behalf of the Fund, for the purchase and resale of a bond (the Bond contracts). The FSA believes that the bond was not a genuine financial instrument and that Mr. Micalizzi was aware of this when he entered into the Bond contracts. This is the biggest ever penalty for an individual in the case of non market abuse imposed by the FSA. Decision Notice for Mr. Micalizzi.  Decision Notice for DDCM.