In a bid to boost his bonuses and chances of promotion, Ghanaian-born trader Kweku Adoboli exceeded his trading limits, failed to hedge trades and faked records to cover his tracks during 2008 and 2011
London: UBS trader Kweku Adoboli, who gambled away $2.3 billion of the Swiss bank's money, was jailed for seven years in London for Britain's biggest-ever fraud, reports PTI.
The Ghanaian-born banker, 32, had been found guilty of two counts of fraud by a jury at Southwark Crown Court earlier today but cleared of four charges of false accounting.
"There is a strong streak of the gambler in you," judge Brian Keith told Adoboli as he sentenced him. "You were arrogant to think the bank's rules for traders did not apply to you.
"The tragedy for you is that you had everything going for you.
"Your fall from grace as a result of these convictions is spectacular."
The judge said Adoboli would serve half his sentence before being released on licence.
Adoboli wiped away tears as he was sentenced. He had admitted the losses but denied any wrongdoing.
During the two-month trial he claimed senior managers were fully aware of his activities and encouraged him to take risks to make profits for UBS.
But prosecutors said that in a bid to boost his bonuses and chances of promotion, Adoboli exceeded his trading limits, failed to hedge trades and faked records to cover his tracks between 2008 and 2011.
The tactics initially paid off -- prosecutors said he earned $90 million for UBS and its clients by May 2011 and the bank rewarded him with huge bonus increases, rising from $23,887 in 2008 to $3,98,125 in 2010.
But as the financial crisis took hold, Adoboli's deals went bad. The court heard had that at one point he was at risk of causing the bank losses of $12 billion.
"The amount of money involved was staggering, impacting hugely on the bank but also on their employees, shareholders and investors," said Andrew Penhale, deputy head of fraud at the Crown Prosecution Service.
"This was not a victimless crime."
A UBS spokesman said: "We are glad that the criminal proceedings have reached a conclusion and thank the police and the UK authorities for their professional handling of this case. We have no further comment."
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