Heat turned up on GPB Capital

Massachusetts adds yet another lawsuit to the growing list of them against GPB Capital, and a fired compliance officer says it vindicates her claims.

We (jointly with sister title Regulatory Compliance Watch) wrote a while back about GPB Capital, a private equity fund with quite a few lawsuits on its hand.

The list now includes a lawsuit from the state of Massachusetts, which is seen as vindication by a former compliance officer of one of GPB’s broker-dealers, who claims she was fired after speaking up against selling GPB funds. The whole story is odd.

The trouble started before GPB’s former CCO was indicted on charges that, while working at the Securities and Exchange Commission, he used inside information to tip GPB officials off about ongoing federal investigations. He allegedly did this in order to get a job with GPB.

That alone is strange. If it’s true (I’m not saying it is – the trial has reportedly been delayed until September), then GPB wouldn’t really have been helping itself by hiring away from the SEC a person who had valuable inside knowledge about ongoing investigations into GPB. In an alleged game of criminal chess, that’s sounds to me like a selfmate.

Of some of the GPB ‘people moves’ this publication covered when it was still known as PFM, this one is also a little unusual, if only because of the brief mention that GPB has a “unique management structure.” Its unique structure is quite a large part of what Massachusetts is using as evidence against GPB.

Email prepared by Graham Bippart