Trader accused of £1.3bn fraud weeps in court

A CITY trader wept in the dock yesterday as he appeared in court accused of a £1.3 billion (€1.45bn) fraud at Swiss banking giant UBS.

With an open-necked white shirt and sky blue sweatshirt, Kweku Adoboli stood accused of fraud and two charges of false accounting, one of which dated back to 2008.

The 31-year-old was remanded in custody to appear again at City of London Magistrates Court for a committal hearing on September 22.

During the 15 minute hearing, the well-built Ghanaian was handed a tissue from the clerk as he wiped a tear away.

The alleged rogue trader, who is the son of a former Ghanaian official for the United Nations, joined the Swiss firm in a junior capacity in 2002.

He was arrested at his desk in a swoop by police in the early hours yesterday.

The alleged fraud offence took place between January 1 and September 14 this year, the court heard.

The fraud charge against him read: “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.”

Adoboli’s lawyer Louise Hodges, of Kingsley Napley solicitors, made no application for bail for her client, from Clark Street, Bethnal Green in east London.

Adoboli worked as a director of exchange traded funds (ETF) and delta-1 trading at UBS Investment Bank.

UBS, which has 6,000 staff in Britain, saw its shares slide 10% on Thursday after it revealed the loss, which could tip the bank into the red for the third quarter.