Cantor’s Former Spread-Betting Head Sues Firm for $30 Million

Cantor Fitzgerald LP is being sued for as much as $30 million by the former head of its U.K. spread- betting business, in a dispute over Cantor’s plans for the lucrative division.

Lewis Findlay, who helped set up the Cantor Index unit six years ago, claims he was wrongfully dismissed by the company last January. He’s now pursuing two separate lawsuits to protect his stake in the business and says he’s entitled to a multimillion dollar payout for the money he would have made if it’s sold or listed on an exchange.

It’s the second time Cantor, which lost the majority of its U.S. staff in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has been hit with a big-money employment lawsuit in Britain. Steven Horkulak, a former London-based broker, was awarded 795,000 pounds ($1.5 million) in 2004 over his claim that he was bullied into quitting by Cantor’s Lee Amaitis.

Findlay’s case, which had a preliminary hearing today at the High Court in London, centers on a so-called incentive agreement he signed in 2003, entitling him to share in the proceeds of a successful sale or share listing of Cantor Index.

‘We believe the claim is without merit and we will robustly defend our position,’ Cantor’s London office said in a statement.

Bonus Payment.

The company specializes in financial spread-betting, which allows traders to gamble on the movement of share or commodities prices, without the tax and disclosure obligations of share ownership. While Cantor last week announced plans for a $460 million initial share sale of its BGC Partners Ltd. brokerage unit in the U.S., it has retained ownership of Cantor Index.

Findlay claims that his stake in the company would be worth between $20 million and $30 million, given an estimated market valuation of between $200 million and $300 million. He’s also seeking his bonus payment for 2004 and compensation for alleged damage to his reputation and employment prospects, according to documents submitted to the High Court.

Cantor denies wrongdoing and today argued that the court should strike out most of Findlay’s claims relating to the incentive agreement, on the grounds that he knew the risks of leaving the company and that there was no breach of his contract.

Findlay’s second claim, filed at a U.K. employment tribunal in August, has been temporarily postponed pending the outcome of the High Court case.

A full trial on the claim is scheduled for July.

Tags: Cantor Index, cantorindex, financial spread betting, spread betting

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 17th, 2007 at 3:50 am and is filed under Industry Happenings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.