Chinese businessman drags UBS to court for $500m loss

Guo Wengui, a Chinese businessman, has sued Swiss financial services firm UBS for the second time to claim a $500m loss.

According to a Bloomberg report, the billionaire businessman sued UBS in London for allegedly pressurising him to borrow funds to buy shares in the Chinese brokerage Haitong Securities.

The petition claimed that the Swiss firm called a margin call amid a challenging market situation in 2015 tanking his investment.

The businessman further alleged that he was not aware of the margin call clauses in the contracts.

This is the second endeavour by Guo to recover his investment after a failed attempt in New York.

However, UBS, on the other hand, dismissed the allegations and stated that it will defend itself.

In the lawsuit, Guo claimed, that UBS advised him to arrange the deal through an intermediary to avoid divulging his holding.

The publication added that the tycoon agreed that the shares in Haitong would be initially purchased by a Chinese investment fund.

However, UBS transferred the loss on him after dumping the stock, he claimed.

Guo has been living in New York for more than five years and is said to have close ties with Steve Bannon, who served as the White House chief strategist under Trump administration.

Last month, UBS reported best Q3 results in a decade despite ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.