Peter Cruddas  Peter Andrew Cruddas (born 30 September 1953) is an English banker, businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder of online trading company CMC Markets. In the 2007 Sunday Times Rich List, he was named the richest man in the City of London, with an estimated fortune of £860 million. As of March 2012, Forbes estimated his wealth at $1.3 billion. Cruddas was appointed Conservative Party co-treasurer in June 2011. In March 2012 it was alleged by "The Sunday Times" that he had offered access to the Prime Minister David Cameron and the Chancellor George Osborne, in exchange for cash donations of between £100,000 and £250,000. Cruddas resigned the same day. In June 2013, Cruddas successfully sued "The Sunday Times" for libel over its coverage of him, which the High Court found had been defamatory. However, in March 2015, an appeal court reduced the libel damages and made Cruddas repay £130,000 of the original £180,000 in damages, ruling that the "Sunday Times's" central allegation around "cash for access" had been borne out by the facts, while also ruling that a series of subsidiary allegations made in the same "Sunday Times" article were still false and defamatory. The son of a father who worked at Smithfield Market, Cruddas has an elder brother John and a twin brother Stephen, both of whom became taxi drivers. Born in the Metropolitan Borough of Hackney, the family initially lived on the Bracklyn Court Estate, before moving to Vince Court when the twins were six. Cruddas states his membership of the Boy Scouts as the reason for his early success, who taught him self-discipline and self-confidence: He left Shoreditch Comprehensive with no qualifications, aged 15, and gained a job as a telex operator for Western Union in the City of London. After being made redundant, he worked in the foreign currency trading rooms of various banks, including the Bank of Iran and Marine Midland. By 1989, Cruddas was the head foreign exchange dealer at the City of London branch of the Jordanian-based Petra Bank. He left the same year to set up his own business, starting CMC Markets with £10,000 in the bank. CMC Markets is currently valued at between £750 million and £1.2 billion. Cruddas has stated his intention to give away £100 million to enable children who have a background like his to succeed.