Lindy Boville, a former trader, has sued RBC Capital Markets for gender bias over her firing, which she said stemmed from her dating a hedge fund manager later charged with fraud for running a Ponzi scheme. Boville accused RBC of using her relationship with James Nicholson as a pretext to fire her in March 2009 and assign her accounts to male workers, RBC spokesman Kevin Foster denied those allegations: "Ms. Boville showed poor judgment in helping Jim Nicholson raise money for his hedge fund and failing to disclose her activities to her supervisors. It is irrelevant that she had a personal relationship with Nicholson, and she should have told RBC what she was doing."

Nardizzi & Associates had warned an investment banking client in 2007 that something was amiss with Nicholson and his Westgate Capital firm. A grand jury in April indicted him for a scheme that caused $150 million of losses.

Tags: ponzi, fraud, private investigator