Ken Griffin’s Citadel is asking the courts to force a pair of Marshall Wace big shots to turn over any messages they have about the recruitment of a credit portfolio manager.
Citadel’s attorneys state in a new filing that Marshall Wace has produced limited communications on the recruitment of former Citadel portfolio manager Dan Shatz, who joined Marshall Wace in late 2024 as its global head of credit. Citadel said in its filings that only a single text message chain between Shatz and Marshall Wace quant trading head Nick Nielsen has been shared since June 8, when the court ordered Marshall Wace to comply with a Citadel subpoena regarding its recruitment of Shatz.
Citadel is now requesting that the court order Marshall Wace to share communications regarding Shatz’s hire from a pair of big names: partner and TOPS fund portfolio manager Anthony Clake and Alpha Plus fund co-PM Alan Hofmeyr. Citadel alleges that both were heavily involved in recruiting Shatz and that they met with him in London during his noncompete period. However the evidence Citadel cites to support the claim is redacted.
Marshall Wace declined to comment.
“You have to wonder why they’re fighting so hard to keep this information from coming to light,” a Citadel spokesperson said in a statement to Business Insider.
The legal fight between two of the hedge fund industry’s biggest names stems from an arbitration battle between Shatz and Citadel, where he worked as a credit manager until the summer of 2023.
Shatz claims he is owed a “significant eight-figure” amount of money that he didn’t receive because he raised internal concerns about potential securities violations.
Citadel has alleged that Shatz violated his noncompete agreement when he was hired by Marshall Wace, which is how the London-based firm entered the fray.
Citadel subpoenaed Marshall Wace’s internal communications with Shatz in February as part of the arbitration, but Marshall Wace sought to quash the request in court. A judge ruled for Citadel in early June, and now Citadel is pushing for more Marshall Wace executives to produce evidence.
Including Clake and Hofmeyr, who are both based in the UK, is a part of Citadel’s goal of showing Shatz worked during his non-compete period. The latest filing alleges that the three met in London during this period.
“Marshall Wace’s objections to including Clake and Hofmeyr as custodians have been shifting and inconsistent. Marshall Wace no longer disputes that Clake and Hofmeyr were heavily involved in Shatz’s recruitment and had numerous conversations about Shatz’s role in building the credit team; instead, it generically cites ‘burden’ and ‘harassment,’ while refusing to access those communications or even determine hit counts,” the filing reads.
Marshall Wace’s foray into credit investing has been a rocky one, Business Insider previously reported, as several PMs and executives, including Weijian Chuah, the head of systematic credit, have departed the London-based firm.
Citadel’s fixed-income-only fund, meanwhile, is slightly down on the year through July, though the firm has enjoyed a banner year in its equities business thanks to the purchase of a bulk of Situational Awareness’s public portfolio at the end of July.
