The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has resolved proceedings involving the Descartes Athena Fund SPC (the Athena Fund), paving the way for about 340 overseas investors allegedly defrauded by the collapsed private hedge fund to recoup part of their investments from distribution of $191,360,215 of assets recovered by the SFC.
This came after the SFC commenced urgent proceedings in April 2009 to freeze assets of the Athena Fund to protect the interests of its investors, alleging that the Athena Fund and its fund managers defrauded investors by issuing false documents purportedly from a major accounting firm and sending them false statements of account and subscription contracts, and that the assets of the Athena Fund had been dissipated.
The SFC’s Executive Director of Enforcement, Mr Mark Steward, said: “The SFC alleges the Athena Fund was an outright fraud. Our action to have the assets frozen prevented them from disappearing into the perpetrators’ pockets and will enable most investors to recover a substantial portion of their investments.”
The other defendants in the SFC proceedings include the two operators of the Athena Fund and the related companies, namely Descartes Investment Management Limited, Descartes Global Asset Management Limited and Descartes Finance Limited (the Descartes Group).
