Bank seeks $243M from Greenwich man
HARTFORD — An international attempt to recover nearly a quarter-billion dollars in failed investments reached the state Supreme Court on Wednesday when lawyers for Deutsche Bank accused Alexander Vik of Greenwich of a decadelong attempt to dodge his responsibility.
Vik, a Norwegian-born former Ivy League golf champion, was ordered by a British court in 2013 to pay the bank $243 million. When it couldn’t recover the funds, Deutsche Bank pursued him to Connecticut, where he lives part of the year.
On Wednesday, Vik sat calmly in a Hartford courtroom as a seven-judge panel reviewed hundreds of documents in connection with a British court that in 2013 ordered Vik’s solely owned company, Sebastian Holdings Inc., to repay its losses in the global recession of 10 years ago.
Wesley W. Horton, Vik’s attorney, claimed that even though Vik was the sole owner of the company, he should not be personally responsible for the trading losses.
“In our view, they cannot bring any case at all against SHI,” Horton said. “They knew in October (2009) that all this money, more than a quarter-billion dollars, was being withdrawn just before they made a margin call.”
David G. Januszewski, lead counsel for Deutsche Bank, detailed a trail of financial finagling that emptied Sebastian Holdings — registered in the Turks & Caicos of the British West Indies — of its assets at around the time the bank was owed a staggering amount from Vik’s massive trading losses.
“He was vested,” Januszewski said, stressing that Vik has attempted to skirt responsibility for years, contesting every issue. “He was there and he was driving the train. He was the only shareholder. He referred to it as his trading company. He was interested in the outcome and the financial situation of the company.”
The hearing was over the issue of piercing the corporate veil, in an attempt to link Vik directly to the responsibilities of his investment company. Sebastian Holdings has countersued, claiming that the bank was depriving him of the ability to make investments.
Questioning of the competing lawyers was led by Associate Justices Andrew J. McDonald and Steven D. Ecker — who at times seemed incredulous that the case has taken so long — but every one of the justices engaged in the hearing. A result in the case means more than $100 million alone in legal fees.
“Just because he’s here doesn’t make him a resident of Connecticut,” said McDonald, noting that Vik, the defendant in the case, lives part of the year in Europe. Vik told the English court that he was prepared to pay back the bank. “They clearly weren’t fond of Mr Vik,” McDonald said of the bank. “But did they know that SHI would not pay a judgment?”
Horton said they should have been aware that he would decline to make the payment.
“Your client said ‘Don’t worry, I am paying this. I’m not going anywhere,’” Ecker said. “They didn’t know he was going back on his word at the time, did they?”
“To let Mr. Vik off the hook for a $243 million judgment is unjust and unfair,” Januszewski told the court. If it rules in the bank’s favor, the case, which has more than 337 separate filings in recent years, would go back to Norwalk Superior Court. “We have judgment for $243 million and we’re trying to get our money back, and we’re entitled to pursue thse remedies.”
In 2014, Forbes magazine called Vik “The Most Interesting Man In The World (As Long As He Doesn’t Owe You Money).”
After the jurists adjourned, Vik, whose sprawling estate is located on Ashton Drive in Greenwich next to the home of Ned Lamont, the Democratic candidate for governor, walked out of the courthouse, saw a news photogapher, attempted to cover his face, then walked back into the building and left by a back door.
In 2010, Vik’s son, a Tufts University student also named Alexander Vik, contributed more than $4,000 to Lamont’s unsuccessful 2010 campaign for governor, according to state election regulators.