Fallen Hedge Fund Star Proves Elusive
Once worth $500 million, Florian Homm was driven by money, power, sex and drugs. But when his hedge fund crashed, he went on the run. He tells Christopher Goodwin how he survived an assassination attempt and FBI manhunt – and why he’s now a changed man.
For a man who has a bullet in his spine and is on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, Florian Homm seems remarkably at ease with the world.
Standing on the terrace of a five-star hotel in the forested hills just outside Frankfurt, Homm spreads his arms wide.
“Isn’t this wonderful,” he sighs, asking a waitress to bring him a freshly squeezed orange juice. “I’m grateful every day. To have a good view and hear the water from a fountain, that’s not so shitty.”
In the distance, through the summer haze, we can see the gleaming skyscrapers of Frankfurt’s business district, the hub of Germany’s financial sector. That was the world that Homm, 58, who ran a hedge fund that managed assets of $3 billion, bestrode…
Sloppy Charges
Homm had been charged with his alleged Swiss contacts – a fiduciary and two former executives of Leodan Bank, which went under in 2016. The Swiss court didn’t spare in its criticism of the attorney general, represented by prosecutor Graziella De Falco.
The charges were imprecisely articulated, which hinders the defendant’s ability to respond, the judge said. The case is enormously complex as well as time-consuming: de Falco submitted 275 pages of charges.
Frozen Funds?
Swiss investigators can go back to the drawing board and appeal the ruling, according to the paper. However, the clock is ticking for the prosecutor: in 2020, the statute of limitations on the first of a spate of charges against Homm expires.
The setback raises the question of what happens to $60 million frozen by the prosecutor in Swiss and Liechtenstein banks and foundations. Homm has laid claim to the funds, as have his former investors looking to recoup their money.