BlueCrest moved its traders to the partners' fund — the bill was $101M

BlueCrest Capital Management, co-founded by billionaire Michael Platt, ran a flagship external fund for outside investors alongside an internal fund reserved for partners and employees. Between October 2011 and December 2015, the FCA later found, the firm reassigned UK-based traders from the external fund to the internal one — where the firm's own people had their money — without adequate or accurate disclosure, leaving external investors with a sub-standard service. In January 2016 BlueCrest converted into a private investment partnership and returned its external capital.

The FCA's decision notice of 22 December 2021 proposed a fine of more than £40.8 million plus redress for affected clients. BlueCrest referred the case to the Upper Tribunal, which in June 2023 struck out the FCA's redress claim. The Court of Appeal restored it in October 2024, upholding the regulator's power to require redress; the Supreme Court granted BlueCrest permission to appeal in January 2025 — and the firm withdrew the appeal ahead of its November 2025 hearing.

On 14 October 2025 the FCA issued its final notice: a public censure, the £40.8 million penalty, and US$101 million — £76 million — of redress to UK and non-US investors who held the external fund between 1 October 2011 and 31 December 2015. The four-year fight ended with the firm paying more than the original bill, and with a settled precedent that the FCA can compel redress.