Billionaire Fredriksen’s Firm Faces $1 Billion Claim After Failed Fraud Trial

By Upmanyu Trivedi (Bloomberg) — Two former executives at billionaire John Fredriksen’s oil trading firm sued for about $1 billion in over allegations that the shipping tycoon’s failed “vindictive” lawsuit brought them to the “brink of financial ruin.”

Alta Trading UK Ltd’s former chief executive officer Peter Bosworth and ex-chief financial officer Colin Hurley sued after Fredriksen’s firm lost a decade-long court case accusing them of a major fraud. A “dishonestly” obtained freezing order in 2015 stymied the duo’s attempt to start a new oil trading venture or find another job, their lawyers alleged at the start of a London trial.

Bosworth and Hurley’s lawyers claimed that Fredriksen’s firm engaged in vindictive and inappropriate conduct during the litigation that included asking Swiss police to investigate them.

Lawyers for the two men pointed to a March 2021 WhatsApp conversation where the tycoon’s daughter said “I don’t think more lawyers will manage to solve the” case, and “something dirty has to be done to thieves like these.”

Fredriksen responded to her saying “We have to take the house in Switzerland and in Ibiza,” lawyers said in court filings. About two years after the exchange, Arcadia’s solicitors invited the Swiss police to open an investigation into Bosworth and Hurley alleging one of Hurley’s Swiss property was purchased by Bosworth with fraud money, their lawyers alleged.

The “colossal claim” from the executives was based on “flimsy evidence” and was “betting on the jackpot of the new oil trading business,” according to lawyers for Alta — previously known as Arcadia. There was no evidence that the failure to start the new business was a result of the freezing order, lawyers said. 

Bosworth and Hurley did not make any serious attempts to find jobs, the firm’s lawyers said. 

Fredriksen, whose empire sprawls from shipping companies to salmon farms, acquired Arcadia, a then well-known oil trader, in 2006. Arcadia sued its former CEO and CFO in 2015 alleging losses of around $287 million were caused by the pair diverting oil trading profits into companies controlled by them.

Since renamed as Alta Trading, it wound down its business in 2022. A UK judge dismissed the claim last year saying Bosworth and Hurley had acted in what they “honestly and reasonably” considered was in the Arcadia Group’s best interests.

Bosworth would have earned $823 million in the past decade and while Hurley would have made $318 million if the freezing order didn’t prevent them from starting the oil trading business, their lawyers claimed. They would have earned about $800 million and $120 million respectively if they were in a job, they said.

Lawyers for Bosworth and Hurley declined to comment. Lawyers for Alta and a spokesperson for Fredriksen didn’t immediately respond to requests for further comment.

© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.

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