‘A real shame and disgrace’: Ex partner tells of investment firm’s collapse

Castle Rock Global Capital, which was licensed to provide general advice to wholesale clients around foreign exchange and managed discretionary accounts, was placed in administration in early January, shortly before the death of its sole director David Hunter Campbell.

Mr Campbell, a prominent fund manager and philanthropist, established the hedge fund Hunter Burton Capital (HBC) in 2011 with business partner Tony Bradley. Mr Campbell had moved to his own firm, Castle Rock, in 2018 and assumed responsibility for the original HBC licence, Mr Bradley told ifa.

“At the time of separation, all the clients in the HBC umbrella, under the AFSL regulated by ASIC, were mine,” Mr Bradley said.

“He set up Castle Rock, and took the AFSL. I kept Hunter Burton and became a CAR under his licence.”

A report to creditors of Castle Rock and a related company, Davcas Investments, issued in late January indicated Mr Campbell had allegedly inflated returns generated for investors through misleading monthly statements and paid out around $5 million to himself since 2016 as a director of Davcas.

Mr Bradley said the news of Mr Campbell’s alleged fraud had come “as a complete shock to me – and as I understand it, to his wife and kids”.

“A real shame and disgrace – I have known David since 1990 and we worked together three times in the markets, so I am angry and disappointed,” he said.

Mr Bradley said Castle Rock’s licence would “inevitably” be cancelled by the corporate regulator as a result of investigations into the firm’s dealings, and HBC would also likely be wound up.

“HBC operates under a strict MDA structure and all of my clients are happily waiting for my decision on what to do,” he said.

“They have been informed they can withdraw their money at any time, as the accounts are in their names with a third-party broker, but to date no one has done that – they are waiting for my cue. I will make that decision in the next week or so.”