Crux of the Matter

Enron was once the world’s largest energy trader, a titan ofthe age which wielded untold corporate and political power. But in the early 2000s it all came crashing down. Over a few dramatic weeks in 2001, it was revealed that the company – America’s seventh biggest corporation – had concealed huge amounts of debt by transferring them to shady partnerships. By November Enron was in bankruptcy – and...

A pioneer in brain science and neurotechnology, Dr Jamil El-Imad has decades of broad experience in the field of technology, spanning both academia and the private sector. He currently serves as an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Imperial College London and acts as an advisor to UHNW clients and prominent Family Offices across the Middle East and globally. Jamil is a member of Astraea's Spe...

Simon Lewis has a long and storied career in public relations, with contemporaries regarding him as one of the country’s top PR men.  His career has spanned both the private andpublic sectors.  After a career in the city working as Director of Corporate Affairs at Vodafone, Centrica and NatWest,he moved to Number 10 as Director of Communications under Gordon Brown. In 1998, he was appointed as the...

Astraea's Nina Stewart and Tanya Costello are joined by Kathryn Ludlow, a senior lawyer and member of Astraea’s Special Situations Advisory Panel. Kathryn spent over 30 years as a partner at the international law firm Linklaters where she worked on a range of high level investigations and dispute resolutions for big four accountancy firms, banks and corporates. In recent years Kathryn establis...

As a story, and a scandal, the looting of Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund had it all. A prime minister on the take, a jet-setting playboy, Hollywood deals, wheelbarrows of cash on Thai beaches – and billions that disappeared, some never to be returned. The Malaysia Development Berhad fund – 1MDB for short – was set up in 2009 by the country’s prime minister Najib Razak to pursue investment and de...

There aren’t many people in the business world with the breadth and depth of experience of Sir Mike Rake. One of Britain’s most highly regarded “boardroom grandees”, with a reputation as a corporate troubleshooter, Sir Mike has chaired the boards of KPMG International, British Telecom, EasyJet and WorldPay and held senior roles at Barclays and McGraw Hill. He has also advised prime ministers, been...