Crypto trading firm in Citadel Securities dispute is back and hiring

Remember Portofino Technologies? It’s the crypto trading firm that was formed in the heady pandemic days of April 2021 by two former Citadel Securities employees. It’s also the crypto trading firm that Citadel Securities subsequently accused of stealing trade secrets and proprietary information and of being put together while its founders were still working there. 

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Going up against Citadel Securities seems a brave endeavour, but two years after the battle erupted, Portofino Technologies is still standing. And hiring.

In January, Portofino appointed Dipek Shah, a former managing director in FX trading at Nomura with a history at Goldman Sachs and Citi as its head of OTC trading, along with Melchior de Villeneuve as its chief revenue officer, based in Switzerland.

More hires seem likely. Portofino quadrupled revenues in the past year, although it's not clear from which base. The company was exempt from filing full accounts in the UK in the last year, meaning that it had turnover of less than £10.2m. CEO Léonard Lancia says Shah and de Villeneuve will “accelerate growth” even further.

What about the Citadel Securities lawsuit? Portofino isn’t commenting, but it’s understood to be ongoing. Lancia, who was Citadel Securities’ former head of Europe systematic options market making, and who was named in the lawsuit, has clearly survived. Alex Casimo, his co-founder and COO, who was also named in the lawsuit and also previously worked at Citadel Securities (as a COO) left Portofino in October 2024. 

There have been other exits too. Vincent Prieur, who was accused of breaching a Citadel Securities non-compete to join Portofino as head of strategy and technologies, joined IMC as head of institutional crypto and market operations in Switzerland in January, 

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