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Howard Lutnick’s BGC Group has filed contempt of court proceedings against a former British employee, accusing him of hiding assets after taking part in a £24 million scheme to defraud the US broker-dealer.
Lawyers acting on behalf of the company told the High Court in London that tax adviser Michael Viney had breached a previous order freezing his assets, including by selling a property in Barcelona without disclosing it.
BGC, which is led by billionaire Lutnick – one of Donald Trump’s closest allies and co-chair of his transition team – previously claimed it had fallen victim to a “massive fraud” perpetrated by Viney and another British employee, Xavier Alcan.
The company reached a settlement with Alcan earlier this year. Edward Levey KC, representing BGC, told the court on Monday that Alcan “defended the case up to the eve of trial” but that the claim was then settled on terms that he would pay “significant sums” to BGC.
Viney has previously admitted to paying BGC. According to the company, he was told in May 2022 that he had to pay around £24 million under a court order. In June this was a contempt of court.
Levey claimed Monday that there was “overwhelming evidence” that Viney had violated a court order.
In written submissions he said Viney had sold a property in Barcelona without BGC’s knowledge and had also “failed to disclose” a £1.26 million investment.
The company had previously accused Viney and Alcan of diverting payments intended between BGC and other legitimate sources, mainly HMRC, to bank accounts in numerous jurisdictions.
BGC said Viney used a “trusted position” within the company to conceal 32 separate fraudulent payments, including by spoofing emails. Some of the proceeds had been used to buy property, jewelry and other luxury items, the group claimed.
A hearing on Monday was postponed until the new year because Viney had no legal representation.
Viney, who appeared before the judge without counsel, was not asked for his substantive response to the contempt request. He said he was doing his utmost to recruit legal aid lawyers.
In written submissions, Levey claimed the Barcelona property was sold for €253,800 and the proceeds were paid into a previously undisclosed bank account. Some of the money had been recovered, but much of it had not, he claimed.
Levey also claimed that there had been a “disappearance” of rental property income in Britain and Florida and that Viney “intended to acquire an undisclosed investment” and would have done so if BGC “had not had ended when it learned of its existence”.
Lutnick, who also heads the Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald, personally gave more than $10 million to Trump’s re-election campaign.