An ex-Goldman Sachs Group banker sued the investment bank for around £20.3 million ($22.9 million) to make up for his losing his job after he made whistleblowing allegations about regulatory failures.
Thomas Doyle, who was the bank's head of synthetic swap sales from 2018 to 2021, said Goldman claimed it fired him for "causing disruption and conflict," at the start of a London employment tribunal on Tuesday.
He alleges that it was in fact because he made multiple whistleblowing claims and the reasons for his firing were a sham.
His "attempt to cast himself as a whistleblower is a transparent and lamentable effort to displace the statutory cap on recovery for 'ordinary' unfair dismissal," Goldman's lawyer said in court documents.
The amount of money Doyle is claiming would be about 20 times higher than he would have ever been paid in a year, Goldman's lawyers said. "This is not so much a schedule of loss as a schedule of avarice."
Awards for unfair dismissal are usually capped at U.K. employment tribunals at just over £93,000 unless whistleblowing or discrimination are proved, then any award is unlimited.
Doyle said there was no disciplinary process before he suddenly received an email that told him "he was doomed," according to documents prepared for the hearing. Just before Goldman told him he was going to be dismissed in January 2021, they paid him a bonus of $218,223.
Doyle, who now works in hedge fund sales at Coinbase Global, said he raised issues including allegations about the bank's "low touch to swap" business model in Saudi Arabian markets. He also claims Goldman was exposing clients to unexpected tax risks through "sham swaps" and that confidential client information was being wrongly shared.
He also alleges that he and his team were often bullied and excluded. Doyle said some colleagues repeatedly shouted at them and a managing partner used "vile" language including toward him in a midyear review in 2020.
Doyle's lawyers estimated that he should receive £20.3 million if he wins the claim. This estimate is based off a loss of past and future earnings. Doyle earned a total of $700,000 in 2020, which the bank said reflected a "partially meets expectations" performance rating.
A Goldman spokesperson said the allegations were unfounded and would be "resolutely" contested.
— With assistance from Upmanyu Trivedi.
