Morning Coffee: 32-year-old London banker accused of abusing homeworking pleasures. Banking nepo babies run wild
When you work from home, there are communality upsides. You get to hang out with your partner and your family members, who may also be working from home. You might see your personal trainer and neighbour. You may even walk the dog.
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With the exception of the dog, Redinel Korfuzi seems to have made the most of all these people and pleasures while he worked from home during the pandemic. And now, the time he spent communing with his friends, family and neighbours may be his downfall.
Two years ago, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) charged Korfuzi with insider dealing and began criminal proceedings against him. Korfuzi, who was aged 32 at the time of the alleged offences and was working for asset management firm Janus Henderson as an equity researcher, was accused of enabling, "timely and profitable trading" in stocks he had privileged access to about.
This week, his case came to court. The Financial Times says that Korfuzi is on trial with his younger sister, his personal trainer, his partner, and some neighbours from a nearby flat. Together, they are accused of making £963k ($1.2m) from insider trading in 2020 and 2021.
Korfuzi is accused of using the freedoms and lack of oversight afforded by homeworking to pass information to the group about companies that imminently planned to tap investors for cash. They would then short the stocks before the news became public, and profit from the decline in the share price.
Korfuzi and his neighbours family and personal trainer deny any such thing. Maybe they were just hanging out. Even if they win the case, it looks like a vindication for the likes of Jamie Dimon.
Separately, if your father is a broking billionaire and you're posting on LinkedIn, it's fine to say things like, “Hair is fantastic. Amazing person! Congrats my good friend!” It's also ok to spend your 20s being a DJ and rapper with lyrics like, “Until I run the game, I’ve got everything to gain.”
This is the career path of Kyle Lutnick, son of Howard Lutnick of Cantor Fitzgerald. Now that Howard has joined the Trump Administration, 28-year-old Kyle and his 27-year-old brother Brandon, have been made executive vice chairman and CEO of Cantor controlling company BCG Group Inc. It's not clear how other Cantor employees feel about this.
In other nepo news, Josh Gilinski the son of banking billionaire Jaime Gilinski Bacal, who owns Metro Bank in the UK, has got bored of his $63m Los Angeles mansion with its 115-foot infinity pool.
Josh reportedly spent six years designing and building the home, but never actually moved in. He's described as a financier and entrepreneur.
Meanwhile...
Citi will no longer have aspirational representation goals unless required by local law. Nor will it require “diverse slates of candidates and diverse panels of interviewers”. (Financial Times)
Citi is renaming its “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Talent Management” team to “Talent Management and Engagement.” (Bloomberg)
Millennium paid $100m for Magnetar healthcare portfolio manager Chris Procaccini, 48, and his team. (Bloomberg)
It's not just Scott Willard, Barclays also hired Isobel van Daesdonk from Guggenheim for its financial sponsors group. (BusinessWire)
Jonathan Golub, chief US equity strategist at UBS and Patrick Palfrey, UBS’s senior equity strategist and co-head of portfolio analytics, have mysteriously left along with members of their team. (Bloomberg)
Saudi Arabia is going to have an investment office in Miami and says: “We want connectivity into the important hubs of where important business entities are converging, and Miami is emerging as one, certainly amongst some of the funds and family offices, and also in tech now.” (Bloomberg)
Parents with over-tutored children are sending them the crippling message that they are not capable of doing what they need to do on their own. They can only be accomplished or impressive enough with a paid professional to get them there. (WSJ)
If your last name is null, computer systems keep rejecting you. (WSJ)
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