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Latest update: 17/09/2011
- banking - Switzerland - UBS
Court charges UBS trader with fraud
A trader accused of losing $2 billion in unauthorised trades at Swiss banking giant UBS has been charged with fraud by a London court and ordered to remain in custody until a further hearing next week.
REUTERS - A tearful Kweku Adoboli appeared in a London court on Friday charged with fraud after Swiss bank UBS said it had lost about $2 billion in unauthorised trades. The court ordered him to be detained until a further hearing next week.
Wearing a light blue sweater and a white shirt, Adoboli, 31, wiped tears from his eyes as he appeared before City of London Magistrates Court and was handed a tissue by the court clerk.
Adoboli, who worked as a director of exchange traded funds at UBS, was formally accused of two counts of false accounting, one of which dated back to 2008, and one count of fraud by abuse of position.
The fraud was alleged to have taken place between January and September this year.
The charge stated: “While occupying a position, namely being a senior trader with Global Synthetic Equities, in which you were expected to safeguard, or not to act against, the financial interests of UBS Bank, you dishonestly abused that position intending thereby to make a gain for yourself, causing losses to UBS or to expose UBS to risk of loss.”
The false accounting charges were said to have taken place between Oct. 2008 and Dec. 2009, and Jan. 2010 and Sept. 2011.
The first said he had falsified “an exchange traded fund made or acquired for an accounting purpose” while the second accused him of “falsifying an exchange traded fund transaction and other internal records”.
Adoboli, the son of a retired United Nations employee from Ghana, spoke only to confirm his name and address and he was remanded in custody until Sept. 22 when he will appear again in the same court.
“This is to allow you to make a bail application,” said magistrate Carolyn Wagstaff. “They are extremely serious charges.”
Adoboli will face a further committal hearing for his case to be transferred to a higher court on Oct. 28, Wagstaff added.
Adoboli later composed himself during the short hearing and managed a few smiles at people sitting in the public gallery of the court.
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Comments (2)
gambling
So... this dealer (gambler) lost a load of money for his bank.
I wonder if we would have heard if his gamble had paid off and the bank made the same amount he lost this time.
The whole set up in the market is towards brutal betting which occasionally throws up a sorry clown who goes too far.
It is well known in the City that banks take a odd 100 million loss without making any fuss over it. But when they make millions from those gambles, it's called good practice and prudent results, so are the banks making profits.
If I go to the betting shop and place my boss's weekly takings on a horse, or a proportion thereof, and the horse fails to get placed, I am for the Courts. But if I make a killing at good odds, my boss will not notice as long as his takings are safe.
But there's a massive difference between maybe a thousand pounds, and 1.5 billion pounds, as there is a difference between my boss and a global banking organisation
If the banks wish to tolerate this sort of gambling, I don't see how they can complain when there loss exceeds what they normally appear to tolerate.
After all in principle, the potential harm my horse gambling can do is vastly more damaging than the actions of rogue traders. It could close down the firm, creating a lot of unemployment as folk are laid off due to cash flow problems from MY activities. The banks have stated the damage done to their bank is minimal, therefore the 'punishment' should be correspondingly minimal.
Friendly suggestion
All these uncivilized acts happen in civilized societies in accordance with Cosmic rule.
None to be blamed! No long-term solution is achievable by changing policies or making new laws e.g. in efforts of ending accidents, crimes against national securities etc. including airports.
But for them now, no more welfare checks for free good times and committing crimes!
To keep the guys with such heartless behaviours and mentalities off the Western streets, new labor camps are needed where they have to earn the costs of their own food that someone has to produce!
Shahislam
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