David Joseph, a former Deloitte partner in Zurich, must pay the consulting firm £125,000 ($163,400) after losing against the big-four consulting firm, according to the «Financial Times» (behind paywall). A Dutch-born forensics expert, Joseph was let go by Deloitte five months ago, reportedly amid concerns about his conduct and judgment.

The case is noteworthy because Joseph, who joined Deloitte from KPMG in 2012, reportedly earned the U.S. consulting firm more than $200 million in fees from Credit Suisse from 2012 until relatively recently last year. Joseph's appeal of his dismissal at London’s High Court revealed inner workings of a highly secretive, lucrative industry which has become indispensable to Swiss banks.

Deloitte spent £300,000 defending itself, successfully: it won the case in December. As a result, Joseph must pay a portion of defense fees: $125,000.  

Concerns over Conduct

The total defense fund was termed «rather excessive» by the British judge presiding over the case. The legal wrangling over the court fees is set to continue. «I hope the parties will be able to agree costs without needing to incur further costs in fighting about costs,» the judge noted. 

Joseph reportedly took a «belligerent attitude» towards colleagues, and acted entitled to expense reimbursements for top performers of his team. The consultant denied all of the accusations in court filings, arguing Deloitte had treated him «unfairly and unjustly» in a potential appeal.

Lost Out on Audit Gig

The Credit Suisse forensic project tapered away in recent years for two reasons: the Swiss bank had successfully closed out the U.S. accounts, and Deloitte wanted to pitch for Credit Suisse’s auditing mandate.

The bank had resolved to rotate the mandate, which is currently held by KPMG. Internal conflict-of-interest guidelines generally prohibit consultants from «double-dipping» in advisory and auditing work. PricewaterhouseCoopers won the audit job late last year.