Burford chief swapped sex tape for secret file, court told

A SENIOR executive at embattled Burford Capital traded a sex tape for confidential documents, it has been claimed.

Daniel Hall, corporate intelligence director at the legal finance firm, is alleged to have handed over ‘video material of a sexual nature’ relating to American shipping magnate Harry Sargeant III.

He was given the secret files in return, according to a lawsuit filed with the High Court in London. Hall had allegedly been hired by a rival shipping firm to investigate Sargeant’s assets.

Sergeant, a 61-year-old former fighter pilot, claims in a separate US legal case launched last year that ‘private consensual relations’ which are ‘extremely sensitive’ had been hacked from his email account.

Burford is already fighting off claims from hedge fund Muddy Waters that it has used questionable accounting practices to hide poor financial performance.

The latest claims were made as part of a High Court case involving Sargeant, Venezuelan business magnate Wilmer Ruperti and Russian shipping group Novoship.

Ruperti wants up to £74m from Novoship for allegedly breaching a settlement. Novoship in turn says if it loses the case, Burford will be liable for the sum. This is because Novoship claims it gave Burford access to confidential documents which were then misused. Burford said all the claims in the case were meritless.

Burford’s shares slumped earlier this month following an attack from Muddy Waters.

It accused Burford of accounting tricks similar to those used by trading firm Enron before it went bust in 2001, and claimed Burford – which denies the claims – is ‘arguably insolvent’. Shares have fallen from 1669p on July 24 to 808p today.

Lawyers for Novoship and Ruperti declined to comment. A spokesman for Sargeant declined to comment when approached by journalists.