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Charlemagne Capital
Although he has said that he has "not been involved in Russia since the 1990s", his firm Regent Pacific in 2012, began a business relationship with a Russian who had previously been expelled from Sweden in 1988 for espionage, and Charlemagne only divested significant interests in Russia in 2016.

London-based Charlemagne Captial was established in June 2000 following its demerger from Regent Pacific with Sutcliffe becoming Chief Executive, and David Curl (among a number of senior people from Regent), the Finance Director. It floated on the UK's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in April 2006 and the group's shares briefly hovered above the initial public offering price of 100p (a market capitalisation of £298m), but they were trading at just 72p by late May.

As the financial crisis of 2007–2008 took effect, in the first quarter of 2008 the value of its funds under management fell by 15% and in April the share price was at 41p. Profits fell by 30% in the first half of the year and by Septmeber the share price had dropped to 33.25p.

Shortly after the Brexit vote Charlemagne reportedly purchased discounted stock in diamond-mining group Alrosa from the county's government. The deal was one of a number offered to Arron Banks by Siman Povarenkin in 2015.

That investment followed an earlier one in October 2013. In 2016 Mellon owned 19% of Charlemagne, but he was a non-executive director and says he had no role in investment decisions and no knowledge of the acquisition. The shares more than doubled in value within the space of a year. Charlemagne began selling its holding in September 2016, according to its annual report. Mellon sold his stake in Charlemagne at the same time, saying he received no personal benefit from the deal.

With the group's share price at 12p at the end of September 2016, the Charlemagne directors unanimously agreed to sell to Canadian asset management firm Fiera Capital. The 14p per share deal, valuing the business at around £40.7m, completed in December 2016 and the group rebranded as Fiera's European division a year later.