Biggest ever fine for fund manager

The Financial Services Authority has fined a hedge fund manager £2m, its biggest ever fine on an individual, for making fake trades to cover up losses in a fund that collapsed in the credit crisis.

The City regulator said Michiel Weiger Visser, the Dutch chief executive of the London-based Mercurius Capital Management, "deliberately misled investors" and manipulated his fund's net asset value "to disguise the performance ... and to secure continued and increased investment".

The Mercurius International hedge fund, which had about 20 investors and €35m (£31m) in assets, collapsed in January 2008, leaving investors empty-handed, the FSA said. Visser has moved back to the Netherlands, which could make it harder for the FSA to collect the fine.