Virtu’s Viola Sued by Pension Fund for Manipulating Buybacks

Virtu Financial Inc.'s billionaire founder, Vinnie Viola, manipulated its byzantine capital structure to engineer a $1.1 billion buyback scheme that steered value to himself and other insiders, according to a lawsuit unsealed Monday.

A pension fund is suing Viola and other leaders of the financial services giant, saying they’ve extracted more than $400 million from the company’s coffers by paying for the stock repurchase program with funds belonging to public investors. “The conflict was disguised within Virtu’s complex and opaque corporate structure,” but “Viola and the board are aware of the extensive harm they have inflicted on Virtu’s Class ...