Healthcare Locums (HLO:LSE), a recruitment agency, providing temporary and permanent staff to the healthcare and social care sectors in the UK, has today said that proceedings have been filed against the firm and former directors Kate Bleasdale, Diane Jarvis and Alan Walker in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The proceedings have been filed by various hedge fund investors – including Permian Master Fund Arundel Capital LLC, Arundel Long Fund LP, Arundel Hedge Fund LP, Privet Capital, LLC and Flinn Investments, LLC – who believe that Healthcare Locums has misrepresented its profitability and accounting practices.

The company issued a statement, saying that “The Summons and Complaint allege that Healthcare Locums plc and the named former directors made misrepresentations during 2010 concerning the Company's profitability and its accounting practices. The Summons and Complaint have not as yet been served on Healthcare Locums plc. However, the Company is taking legal advice and will update shareholders as and when appropriate.”

Mr Walker stepped down as Chairman of Healthcare Locums in February 2011 and at the time Permian Master Fund expressed concerns over his past. “Mr Walker’s 10-year track record of ‘surprise’ share suspensions is a cause for concern,” a spokesperson for Permian told the Financial Times. “So, too, is a company filing for bankruptcy under Walker’s leadership last year.”

Mr Walker had previously suspended fellow directors, Kate Bleasdale (CEO and founder) and Diane Jarvis (finance director), while an internal inquiry was held into alleged accounting “irregularities.”

Kate Bleasdale is alleged to be at the edge of bankruptcy after several legal disputes over unpaid debt. One of her creditors has already filed bankruptcy proceedings against her, after it has come to light that she owes millions of pounds to law firms, banks and former business partners. At the same time, Ms Bleasdale is also pressing charges against Healthcare Locums over “unfair dismissal and sexual discrimination.” In a similar case in 2002, she won more than £2 million in a record settlement with the recruitment firm, Match Group.