The entire trading desk at a Greenwich Village trading firm quit en masse to protest the tyrannical reign of their CEO – accusing him of blowing company cash on hookers and strippers.
The eight traders who generated 85 cents of each dollar going through the New York office of Axiom Global Partners blasted their boss, James Cawley, as a moody maniac with an unpredictable temper who would fire people on a whim only to see them re-hired the next day.
But worse, they say he squandered company money on personal indulgences, such as $40,000 for a single night at an undisclosed strip club, and more than $22,000 a month on Fleur de Elite Escorts for wild, weeknight sex parties at the W Hotel in Union Square, using as many as three hookers at a time.
The allegations surfaced yesterday in court records filed by one of the company’s founders, Nicholas Stephan, who’s trying to block Cawley from ruining what’s left of Axiom and getting his hands on the company’s last $1 million in cash and receivables.
Cawley was fired as CEO in December by Axiom’s five-member board, but he refused to leave the office for more than a month while he engineered a power play to rehire himself. Cawley took control of the board after kicking off a respected director and replacing him with a notorious and defrocked London trader, John Ho Park.
Cawley even managed to win an arbitration case last month upholding his unusual power play, and was formally expected to re-appoint himself at a closed board meeting yesterday.
Cawley’s lawyer, David Teklis, didn’t return calls about the scandal.
Cawley has previously called the allegations “entirely baseless.”
Stephan, who had been founding CFO and took over as CEO when Cawley was originally fired, asked the Manhattan Supreme Court to dissolve the company to prevent Cawley taking it over.
The protesting young traders, including graduates of Princeton University and the Wharton School of Business, say they’re forfeiting bonuses of up to $600,000 each but never want to work with Cawley again.
Crooked CEO
Colleagues say Axiom Global’s CEO James Cawley wrecked the company and spent thousands on sex parties, hookers, strippers, and family perks such as gifts and babysitters.
Some of the bills:
More than $22,000 a month for hotel sex parties and escorts
$40,000 for a night at an undisclosed strip club
Bought $1,300 computer for his mother in Florida
$5,000 in petty cash used for personal bar bills
Took $17,000 of company money for 3 babysitters at his SoHo home