Court case adds fuel to hedge-fund divorce

The messy divorce of hedge-fund tycoons Elena Ambrosiadou and Martin Coward has become even uglier following a series of alleged revelations in a legal case in Cyprus.

The couple ran IKOS Asset Management, making a £200m fortune in the process, but Mr Coward left the hedge fund in 2009 and they are now fighting around 60 legal battles.

IKOS, which used to be based in London but is now headquartered in Cyprus, uses hugely sophisticated technology to make its investments.

The Financial Mirror in Cyprus last week reported allegations against Vincent Pfister, a former IKOS employee, in Limassol district court. Mr Pfister was accused of downloading the hedge fund's vital code as part of Mr Coward's alleged plan to set up a rival business in Monaco called Flot SAM.

It is alleged that Mr Pfister broke an injunction that ordered him to hand over the data.

He has denied the allegation that he ever passed on any confidential information on IKOS to a third party. However, he did admit copying the files to a memory stick that was later returned to IKOS.

In the court proceedings, which are expected to wrap up next week, IKOS director Ian Mayes accused Mr Pfister of being "a clever and greedy man".