Hopes dim for Weavering investors’ cash
LIQUIDATORS of Weavering Capital’s main hedge fund, at the centre of the UK’s first ever hedge fund fraud probe, have said there is likely to be no money available to return to investors.
Experts at accountancy giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) believe it now looks certain a massive fraud has taken place and the only way investors may be reimbursed at all is after lengthy criminal claims.
A source at the group told City PM yesterday: “I don’t know if there is any money to return – it doesn’t look like there is.”
She said PwC, drafted in when the £400m Weavering Macro Fixed Income fund collapsed after failing to honour client withdrawals, has now had to step back from fighting to return funds to creditors to let the investigators work.
This means securing any reimbursement for victims will take significantly longer.
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) last night refused to put a deadline on its investigation. A spokesman said victims will be at the centre of its efforts: “Certainly the effect that any fraud or economic crime has on victims is uppermost in an investigation.”