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Ex-UBS trader found guilty of fraud in London

Former UBS AG trader Kweku Adoboli was found guilty of fraud in relation to a $2.3 billion loss, the largest from unauthorized trading in British history.

Adoboli was convicted following a two-month-long London trial during which lawyers for the 32-year-old argued UBS managers pushed traders to take more risks and rule-breaking at the bank was rampant.

Wearing a navy suit, white shirt and red tie at the hearing today in Southwark Crown Court, Adoboli reacted to the jury’s verdict by nodding his head and looking down. Adoboli admitted causing the loss, but said he didn’t do it dishonestly. Jurors continue to deliberate on five more counts, including fraud and false accounting.

According to count 6 of his indictment, of which he was convicted, between May 31, 2011, and Sept. 17, 2011, Adoboli “dishonestly abused” his position of trust as senior trader with the Swiss bank’s Global Synthetic Equities group “by causing losses to UBS Bank calculated at $2.2502 billion U.S. dollars intending thereby to make a gain for himself, or cause losses to UBS Bank or to expose the bank to risk of loss.”

The loss, which came from trading in Standard & Poor’s 500, DAX and EuroStoxx index futures, didn’t affect any client positions, according to UBS. In the U.K., fraud charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail, while false accounting can bring a seven-year term.

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