New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Kweku Adoboli, a “rogue” UBS employee has been convicted on one count of fraud, the UK jury are still considering one more count of fraud and four of false accounting, the Guardian reports.

“Adoboli bowed his head when the jury foreman gave the unanimous verdict of all 10 jurors. Judge Brian Keith told the jury to seek similar verdicts on the remaining counts, but told them he would accept majority verdicts of 9-1 if necessary.”

Adoboli’s unofficial trades cost UBS more than £1.5 billion ($2.4 billion), Adoboli said that he was “under enormous pressure to increase profits” and that his colleagues knew about his activities.

“From late 2008 he began making unofficial deals, exceeding his daily limits and failing to make matching hedged trades, a requirement which restricts profits but caps possible losses.

“Adoboli initially accrued substantial profits, which were lodged in a secret account he called his “umbrella” and then drip-fed back on to the regular books. But as European markets hit turmoil in the summer of 2011 the trades began to make losses, which he attempted to recoup with ever-bigger punts.

“Adoboli insisted his colleagues knew about the umbrella, and spoke of a prevailing culture in which even relatively junior traders such as himself were given minimal oversight and tacitly urged to make money by whatever means necessary.” The Guardian reports.

Alex Akesson
Editor for HedgeCo.net
alex@hedgeco.net
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