A former employee of Archegos, the collapsed hedge fund, sues for millions in lost pay.

A former worker of Archegos, the funding agency that precipitated a quick market panic when it misplaced greater than $10 billion in a matter of days final yr, is suing the agency and its founder, Invoice Hwang, plus 5 former prime executives. The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in Federal District Courtroom in Manhattan, the DealBook publication reviews.

Brendan Sullivan, a tech inventory analyst who joined Archegos in 2014 and resigned shortly after it blew up, mentioned he had misplaced $50 million, which was a part of a $500 million deferred worker compensation plan that evaporated together with Archegos’s different belongings when its extremely leveraged choices technique failed.

The swimsuit seeks to pressure Mr. Hwang and others to cowl the losses. Mr. Hwang was charged with fraud by federal prosecutors this yr on suspicion of deceptive lenders and market manipulation, and has pleaded not responsible to the federal government swimsuit. Final week, attorneys for Archegos filed motions to dismiss different fits towards the agency from the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee and the Securities and Alternate Fee.

Fund staff have been informed that the deferred pay plan was assured, the swimsuit says, and that it was invested in extremely liquid shares. Neither declare was true, in keeping with the swimsuit. What’s extra, it says, staff have been pressured to contribute at the least 25 p.c of their annual bonus to the plan, and declare how a lot they’d defer earlier than they knew the main points of the bonus.

“The message was crystal clear,” the swimsuit argues. “No contribution. No bonus.”

Michael Bowe of Brown Rudnick, Mr. Sullivan’s lawyer, informed DealBook that “Hwang and these executives lied to their staff like they lied to the banks.” A lawyer for Mr. Hwang declined to remark. A spokesman for Archegos didn’t responded to a request for remark.

The fund tried to dissuade staff from quitting, and forged doubts over deferred compensation funds in the event that they did, the swimsuit says. Mr. Sullivan, who left anyway, has not acquired any cash from the plan, although as just lately as January the corporate continued to vow former staff that they’d obtain funds, in keeping with a letter seen by DealBook that Archegos despatched to former staff.

Archegos was run like a “cult,” the swimsuit says. Job interviews “revolved round faith and an investigation into the candidate’s non secular upbringing,” in keeping with the swimsuit. Throughout efficiency opinions, it says, Mr. Hwang, who’s a Christian, informed staff to “dedicate extra time to their religion.” At firm retreats, in keeping with the swimsuit, staff acquired reward for publicly declaring gratitude for “God, Hwang and Archegos.”