Oaktree Capital executive held on theft allegations

Martin Graham, a London-based senior vice-president for Oaktree Capital, has been arrested at the request of authorities in the UAE after being accused of stealing $264m.

Graham appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court today, and was reportedly released on conditional bail until a further hearing in October. He denies wrongdoing, according to reports from the FT.

Jean-Michel Tissier lodged a complaint against Graham for allegedly stealing the $264m between June 2014 and April 2015.

Tissier is the former managing director of Gulmar Group, a UAE-based underwater engineering contractor in which Oaktree had invested and is now in liquidation.

The stolen funds part of a $644m arbitration award to a Gulmar subsidiary, Tissier alleges. Gulmar Offshore Middle East (GOME) received the money from a Venezuelan state oil company known as PDVSA after its assets were seized. GOME is currently in administration.

Graham has already been convicted in absentia in the UAE and sentenced to three years in prison.

The UK and the UAE have signed an extradition treaty but before extradition is possible a UK court must find there is evidence that a crime has been committed.

Oaktree is standing behind Graham and described the claims as “meritless”, according to FT reports.

“They arise out of a long-pending commercial dispute related to the restructuring of Gulmar that will eventually be resolved in the ordinary course of business. The filing in Sharjah, UAE, that resulted in Mr Graham’s conviction in absentia was not initiated by Gulmar but by one of the parties to that commercial dispute,” said Oaktree, quoted by the FT.