Case study

CFO, Hedge Fund of Funds

Our client thought they had found a new CFO but wanted some extra referencing done on their chosen candidate.

By using our extensive list of contacts, we found ourselves in conversation with someone with whom the candidate had shared a house in the US many years previously. Anecdotally, we were told that the candidate had left unpaid credit card debts in the US. It seems that, at first, the lack of payment was due to tardiness but then the candidate realised that he wasn’t going to be pursued heavily by the credit card company once he was back in the UK.

We brought this red flag to our client’s attention and they then commissioned a global financial records check on the individual. This was done with the candidate’s permission; the check identified the misdemeanour we had heard about and the client withdrew the job offer. Whilst our client accepted that the non-payment was the act of a young man, it was also  concerned that as the individual would be handling substantial sums of money, should anything go wrong, the fund’s insurer might point to the financial irregularity (and our client knowing about it) as a reason for not paying out.