Mystery billionaire threatened to sack entire office, faces class action worth up to $1bn
A little known Australian billionaire is battling a legal action that could cost him hundreds of millions of dollars, while facing separate allegations he berated staff with homosexual slurs.
A secretive Australian billionaire who made his fortune providing foreign exchange and cryptocurrency trading services is battling legal action that could cost him hundreds of millions of dollars, while facing separate allegations he berated staff with homosexual slurs and threatened to sack his entire workforce and withhold salaries.
Andrew Budzinski, the 49-year-old Perth-born founder of Sydney-based forex and crypto trader and contract-for-difference broker IC Markets (formerly International Capital Markets) faces a class action in the Federal Court brought by former customers while also fighting damaging allegations in a separate Fair Work dispute.
In a twist, Mr Budzinski is has put up a defence against the class action brought on him and IC Markets – which he owns 100 per cent of through his privately held Bud Corporation – by claiming he was not employed by the company from 2017 onwards.
Mr Budzinski, who is worth an estimated $2.21bn, and IC Markets, were told that “time’s up” by Federal Court judge Michael O’Bryan at a hearing in late December, after they both failed to lodge defences on time to the class action that accuses them of selling highly leveraged contracts-for-difference (CFD) investments to retail investors without ensuring they understood the risks.
IC Markets made almost $1bn in net profits in three years up to 2020 and including during Covid-19 lockdowns that year, by making money from clients trading in the risky CFD financial derivatives and taking positions on currency movements and other commodities, stocks, indices, bonds, and cryptocurrency instruments.
The class action has alleged investors were sold CFDs on a website that “facilitated poor decision making and encouraged continuous trading” between December 2017 and August 2024.
But Mr Budzinski has mostly denied hundreds of pages of allegations against him and IC Markets in his defence, and while he admitted he was the founder and owner of IC Markets, he claims “that he was not employed by ICM from 2017 onwards” in a reply to allegations he was in control of the company, as detailed in court documents obtained by The Australian.
The class action quotes emails referred to in a separate Fair Work dispute Mr Budzinski is facing, in an effort to show he was the CEO from 2017.
In that claim, former human resources manager Mayura Masti is seeking compensation and penalties against a company called Finohelp, IC Markets and Mr Budzinski after she alleged she was sacked in 2022 after making legitimate complaints about concerns she had about breaching Fair Work rules.
Ms Masti, who declined to comment for this story, said in her pleadings she made the complaints because Mr Budzinski allegedly asked her to withhold pay and fire employees.
She said she was employed by IC Markets from December 2019 until September 15, 2021, when her employment was transferred to Finohelp. Ms Masti claimed Finohelp provided payroll services to IC Markets, according to court documents.
Ms Masti claimed she was terminated in November 2022, according to her statement of claim. She alleged she reported to Mr Budzinski from December 2019 until she was allegedly terminated.
International Capital Markets and Mr Budzinski are listed as second and third respondents to the case, according to court documents.
Mr Budzinski’s spokeswoman said Ms Masti’s matter has “been on foot for more than a year and is not brought against International Capital Markets Pty Ltd”.
She said it was a claim brought by a “disgruntled former employee of a support services company called Finohelp Support Pty Ltd (Finohelp), against Finohelp”.
“Some of those allegations are repeated in the class action notwithstanding that they relate to a different company, and have no relevance to the class action. Again, it appears deliberately salacious,” she said.
“Beyond what is stated above, it is not appropriate to comment on active proceedings. However, as set out in the recent press release by International Capital Markets, the class action comprises an attack on the CFD industry (it is the fourth of such claims that have been commenced against major Australian CFD providers), and the claims are denied and are being vigorously defended.”
The legal sagas in Australia come after reports Mr Budzinski’s beleaguered forex broker business last year copped a €50,000 fine ($82,000) after IC Markets (EU) Ltd was penalised for violations of local laws in Cyprus, including that it did not take “all sufficient steps to obtain … the best possible results for its clients”.
Mr Budzinski is now living in Dubai, after a stint in Cyprus, according to documents lodged with Australia’s corporate regulator.
He is one of the country’s wealthiest men and a member of The List – Australia’s Richest 250.
But he and his company, once one of the most profitable private businesses in Australia, are little-known in this country.
While IC Markets is still considered a big company in overseas markets – it claims to be one of the largest forex CFD providers in the world with an average traded volume exceeding $1.3 trillion per month – it has not lodged annual financial reports with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission since late 2021.
The Australian quoted Mr Budzinski in early 2022 as saying “lockdowns and Covid market volatility fuelled the global trend towards self-directed trading”, when asked about the big profits IC Markets had racked up.
The market that IC Markets operates in attracted the attention of ASIC in 2021. The regulator cracked down on the sector by imposing conditions on the issue and distribution of CFDs to retail clients, including trading of currencies, stockmarket indexes, shares and crypto assets.
After three reviews in four years, ASIC moved to limit the extent to which brokers pumped up the bets their clients were making on financial markets using CFD products. Previously retail clients were allowed to leverage, or magnify the value of a trade, by up to 500 times their investment in some products – far above the rate allowed in Europe and some other countries.
The class action lawsuit against IC Markets and Mr Budzinski, launched on behalf of investors in December 2023, is seeking damages of just under $1bn – the amount Mr Budzinski paid himself in dividends after massive after-tax profits IC Markets reported – $167m, $359m and $422m for the years ending September 30 in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Mr Budzinski was facing a default judgment because he did not file his defence on time, and was close to losing on a technicality and being liable to pay damages, to be assessed by the court. Ultimately, Mr Budzinski and IC Markets lodged their respective defences the day before Christmas Eve and on December 18.
Justice O’Bryan warned Mr Budzinski’s and IC Markets’ lawyers he considered their failures to comply with court orders as “pretty extensive”. He had told the parties the allegations had been known for a long time and defences were due by November 21, following an extension on an October 31 deadline.
“He’s out of time. I think time’s up,” Justice O’Bryan said during a hearing on December 19.
Echo Law and Piper Alderman consolidated their class actions against IC Markets and Mr Budzinski, and in their combined statement of claim, seen by The Australian, they allege investors were deceived and misled between December 2017 and last August.
Mr Budzinski denied this, and said while he founded IC Markets in 2007 and was a director from that time, “he was not employed by ICM from 2017 onwards”.
He said IC Markets had warned investors about investing in CFDs.
“ICM informed investors and prospective investors that they should only invest in CFDs if they were experienced in derivatives and OTC financial products and understood and accepted the risks and terms of ICM’s CFDs,” Ms Budzinski’s defence said.
“In further answer to the claims for relief pleaded against (Mr Budzinski) … if (which is denied) the (Mr Budzinski) is liable for any of the loss alleged in the (court documents), then (Mr Budzinski) acted honestly and having regard to all of the circumstances of the case, ought fairly be excused from any such liability (in whole, or in the alternative, in part).”
Mr Budzinski was responding to a particular part of the class action case against him, which pleaded to the alleged liability not only of IC Markets, but of Mr Budzinski himself.
“During the relevant period, Mr Budzinski was responsible for, and on a day-to-day basis personally exercised close and extensive control and management over, ICM’s operations and business,” the class action alleged.
The class action pleading quoted emails referred to in a separate Fair Work claim lodged against Finohelp, IC Markets and Mr Budzinski, to further explain why they wanted to hold Mr Budzinski liable for the allegations, as well as his company.
The pleading used the emails to allege that Mr Budzinski considered himself to be the “owner” of the ICM, that the money paid by ICM to its employees was “his” money, and revenue made by ICM was his money and constituted his wealth from 2017 onwards.
“On 20 January 2021, Mr Budzinski sent an email to the applicant in those proceedings in which he referred to the ICM office in Sydney and stated ‘that office has too many useless people that don’t know what they are doing. My aim is to get rid of them all in the next 3-months.’,” the court document alleged.
“In around February 2022, Mr Budzinski emailed an employee of ICM and stated ‘You are an embarrassment to the company and you are effecting its reputation [SIC], which will in-turn have a negative effect on my wealth, which makes me furious beyond comprehension. FURIOUS ENOUGH TO FLY TO AUSTRALIA TO TERMINATE PEOPLE.”
On 14 February 2022, Mr Budzinski emailed the applicant in those proceedings and stated that he owned the company which the applicant was employed by, that he “upheld a culture of strength and dominance, which was the key to the company’s success, the applicant had allowed employees to work in the company who have cost him profit, and that the applicant’s actions had cost the company money and destroyed his brand, including his livelihood”.
The Australian has also obtained the Fair Work claim filed by human resources manager Mayura Masti, who is seeking compensation and penalties against IC Markets after she alleged Mr Budzinski sacked her.
In that matter, Ms Masti alleged Mr Budzinski referred in emails to her concerns about the company breaching Fair Work rules as “bullshit”.
She claimed that on January 18, 2022 Mr Budzinski said she “was explicitly instructed to make all partners’ roles in Australia and their personnel redundant, effective immediately that day” and allegedly said “if you give me any Fair Work bullshit, you can leave too. Enough is enough.”
Ms Masti also alleged on January 26 2021, Mr Budzinski directed her via email to “conduct general knowledge exams with each employee and if the employee did not achieve a pass mark of 80 per cent, their employment would be terminated”.
Court documents allege Mr Budzinski told Ms Masti she had two weeks to do this, but she did not immediately comply.
She alleged Mr Budzinski emailed her days later in February, and said “our tagline in our Seek ads should be ‘Welcome to IC Markets, we are looking to employ idiots.”
“I’m happy to pay you.
“It’s okay if you don’t know what a swap rate or PIP (point in percentage) is, our HR department will still let you in, they won’t even ask you,” she alleged Mr Budzinski said.
“Join us today and get money for nothing.”
She also alleged Mr Budzinski emailed another of her colleagues, complaining that marketing did not know which jurisdictions to target.
She did not recall the date it was allegedly sent, according to her claim.
“Clearly you have zero clue about the revenue per customer in various regions – this is pathetic given you are the head of marketing and you should know which jurisdictions to target and it is certainly not Australia …
“Most guys I know on Instagram are wannabes, showing off their lifestyle, trying to pick up women, most of whom are b*$#hes (some very hot).” She claimed on February 14, 2022, Mr Budzinski emailed her words to the effect that “he didn’t care if in Australia it was against the law to protect homosexuals, because in his country, homosexuals were sent to jail and that Australia was incapable of handling a Covid-19 outbreak”.
She alleged on February 16, 2022, Mr Budzinski emailed her words to the effect that “the company does not employ faggots”.
Ms Masti claimed that in September 2022, Mr Budzinski directed his Australian operation not to approve or pay any wages to any employees in Australia on the basis that Mr Budzinski would review the performance of each employee and on review of the performance, he would then authorise the payment of wages.
Her court documents said she did not recall the exact date and time of the alleged direction.
Ms Masti claimed Mr Budzinski told her that she had been fired on October 25, 2022, via email.
“Hi Mayura, due to a hiring freeze and down turn in global economic conditions, the company has decided that your services as HR manager are no longer needed,” the email allegedly said.
Ms Masti’s case remains open in the Federal Circuit Court, although the last hearing in the matter was in December 2023.
Mr Budzinski and IC Markets have not lodged defences in the matter, but a spokeswoman said the claim was lodged “by a disgruntled former employee of a support services company called Finohelp Support Pty Ltd (Finohelp), against Finohelp”.
“It includes irrelevant and salacious allegations which we are left to assume are designed to pressure Finohelp into a settlement.
“Some of those allegations are repeated in the class action notwithstanding that they relate to a different company, and have no relevance to the class action.
“Again, it appears deliberately salacious,” she said.
The class action is next due to return to the Federal Court in April for case management.