Louis Bacon, the founder and chief executive of New York-based global macro hedge fund Moore Capital Management, 'made' $203 million this week, but the cash came from the resolution of a long-running court battle rather than any trading prowess, according to a report by the Financial Times.

A New York judge awarded Bacon the money in damages at the end of a bitter and long-running defamation case against his former Bahamas neighbour, Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard.

The feud between Bacon and Nygard has its roots in noise issues from loud parties at Nygard’s Robinson Crusoe-themed property in the Bahamas and a dispute over whether Bacon frustrated Nygard’s plans to redevelop his property following a fire.

The court ruled that Nygard had conducted a global smear campaign over almost a decade, making a series of false accusations including that Bacon was a Ku Klux Klan member, that he was guilty of insider trading, and that he was implicated in the death of an employee.

The award, which is subject to appeal, includes $50m in compensatory damages and $100m in punitive damages, plus more than $53m to cover Bacon’s legal and other mitigation costs to date.

Nygard, the founder of women’s fashion company Nygard International, is currently in jail in Canada awaiting trial on charges of sexual assault in Toronto and Montreal.