US watchdog sues London hedge boss over trades

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The New York-based Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a legal action against Najy Nasser, 39, a Monaco-based London School of Economics graduate, and his Chelsea Harbour-based Headstart Advisers.

The SEC action against Nasser and Headstart is similar to that which led to the closure of another London-based hedge fund, Pentagon Capital, run by Lewis Chester, a sometime donor of as much as £100,000 to friend, Tory leader David Cameron.

Nasser, like Chester, has been accused of late trading and market timing offences. Late trading is the banned practice of dealing in shares when investors are locked out of trading after the market closes.

Market timing is the practice of rapid-fire trading in shares, typically US mutual funds, which harm the investments of long-term investors.

Nasser and Headstart are accused of illegally making $198 by "employing...deceptive tactics".

Pentagon's Chester was accused of making £31 million from similar trading.

Headstart says the hedge fund deals in "sophisticated investment intruments" for investors with "minimum investment levels of $100,000".