Life is probably a bit a boring and stressful for Neil Phillips, the 54-year-old former chief investment officer of Glen Point Capital.
After being found guilty last October by a Federal Court in Manhattan of manipulating the FX market, Phillips is awaiting sentence. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, which must be a shock for someone who once ran money for George Soros and seemingly earned at least £3m in 2020.
Phillips is not able to move much, having had a request to travel to South Africa blocked in January. He does, however, still have the internet to explore, and some in the hedge fund industry have raised eyebrows over Philips’ activities there.
Phillips’ left the comment below on his LinkedIn account in January questioning a post on the war in Gaza. We were unable to approach him for a response as he has disabled messaging, but the comment has been live for two months and is now being shared between some incredulous former colleagues.
“We have a UN resolution asking for an immediate ceasefire, and yet he seems to be justifying the killing,” says one hedge fund manager in response to Phillips’ post. “It’s not acceptable. Neil Phillips is a public person and is setting a bad example for all the young people who want to work in financial services. – My son is 16 years old, very ambitious and looking for role models in financial services. It’s just not appropriate for him to be writing things like this.”
Phillips began his career at Morgan Stanley, and worked there from 1995 to 2005. He then worked for BlueBay Asset Management from 2005 to 2014. He was arrested in Ibiza in 2022, at which time he was reportedly looking to sell a house in London’s prestigious Hampstead Heath. It might be argued, however, that Phillips stopped being a role model when he was convicted last year.
Speaking at the time of his conviction, Phillips’ lawyer said his team continued to believe in his innocence and would keep fighting his case. He had argued that his trading activities were standard practice and part of a strategy known as barrier trading.
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