Fired executive of crypto hft firm in legal battle resurfaces at IMC
Trading firms in crypto are preparing their teams for a big 2025. At high-frequency trading giant IMC, this means picking up a free agent who was let go from a small trading firm in a legal battle with Citadel Securities.
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Jae Park has joined IMC as its crypto CFO from Portofino Technologies, where he was also CFO. He spent three years at the firm, joining in its founding year. Prior to that, he worked in the financial institutions group of multiple banks, including Macquarie, Rothschild and, latterly, Morgan Stanley.
Portofino found itself in hot water in late 2023, as Citadel Securities accused co-founders Leonard Lancia and Alex Casimo of stealing trade secrets. Amid this battle, in July, Portofino parted ways with both Park and co-founder Casimo.
Late last year, a judge ruled that Citadel Securities' case would be allowed to proceed in the US, as Portofino poached New York-based employee Vincent Prieur while he was serving a non-compete. After Park and Casimo were fired, ~35% of the firms employees left with them, including Prieur.
Prieur himself has since resurfaced at IMC with Park, becoming the firm's head of institutional crypto markets and operations.
IMC's 2024 was less dramatic, and involved expansion into some non-crypto asset classes; the firm was reported to have started dealing with FX options in October. IMC says that its daily crypto trading volume is $3bn on average.
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