Swaps trader awarded £1m in Cantor Fitzgerald case

Steven Horkulak has won his constructive dismissal court case against the US swaps broker Cantor Fitzgerald, his former employer, for loss of salary and discretionary bonus, a sum totalling around £1 million.

Horkulak, who was head of global interest rate derivatives at the company, brought the case against Cantor Fitzgerald following an apparent campaign of systematic bullying and abuse by Lee Amaitis, London-based president of Cantor Fitzgerald. The judge presiding over the case, Mr Justice Newman, today awarded Horkulak £912,000 in lost earnings as well as a further £100,000 in costs.

The case highlights the aggressive and high-pressured environment at the City firm. In his summation today, Timothy Brennan QC, acting for Horkulak, pointed to the main motivation behind Cantor Fitzgerald's business. "At Cantor Fitgerald, only money makes the world go round," he said.

Horkulak, who is now head of euro interest rate swaps at London-based inter-dealer broker Tullett Liberty, had suffered from drink and drug abuse problems while at Cantor Fitzgerald, leading him to check into the Priory rehabilitation clinic in 2001. Cantor Fitzgerald in turn had said Horkulak left the company because of a long history of stress and anxiety at work with associated personality problems.

The judge refused Cantor Fitzgerald's motion to appeal the ruling.