US prosecutors fired back at the former Allianz SE hedge fund manager who asked a judge to dismiss fraud charges against him over billions of dollars in investor losses.
(Bloomberg) — US prosecutors fired back at the former Allianz SE hedge fund manager who asked a judge to dismiss fraud charges against him over billions of dollars in investor losses.
Gregoire Tournant’s claim that lawyers wrongly betrayed him to protect the company should be rejected because he signed a written waiver when he was represented by three different law firms that allowed his employer to disclose information to prosecutors who ended up charging both him and an Allianz unit, the office of the US Attorney in Manhattan said in a court filing late Friday.
Read More: Ex-Allianz Fund Manager Asks Judge to Dismiss Fraud Charges
Tournant was chief investment officer and co-lead portfolio manager of a US-based group of Allianz hedge funds that collapsed. He has pleaded not guilty to charges including securities fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
The Allianz unit that managed the failed funds, Allianz Global Investors US LLC, in May pleaded guilty to a single count of securities fraud and agreed to pay $5.8 billion in fines and restitution.
Tournant claims that allowing AGI to plead instead of Allianz itself was a favorable deal for the German insurer. Allianz believed it faced a “corporate death penalty” if it were charged, he argues, but could only avoid that fate by cooperating with prosecutors against him.
Prosecutors said in Friday’s filing that Tournant is trying to avoid standing trial by making inflammatory and baseless claims about his former attorneys and the government.
“The defendant now seeks to evade responsibility for his years-long, billion dollar fraud by laying blame at the feet of everyone but himself,” according to the filing.
The case is US v. Tournant, 22-cr-00276, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
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