A former UBS employee accused of unauthorized deals that cost the Swiss bank 1.7 billion euros ($2.3 billion) has pleaded not guilty to fraud and false accounting charges.
In one of the world's biggest-ever cases of alleged "rogue trading," Kweku Adoboli has entered a plea of 'not guilty' in a London court where he faces charges on four counts of fraud and false accounting.
Adoboli, who could receive a maximum 10 years in prison if found culpable, spoke only to confirm his name and reply "not guilty" to all the charges when they were read out to him at a packed Southwark Crown Court.
Judge Alistair McCreath remanded Adoboli in custody and set a trial date of September 3.
The losses incurred by UBS were a severe blow, leading to the resignation of the bank's chief executive Oswald Grübel and triggering a shake-up of its investment banking services.
Adoboli's rogue trading cost UBS a lot of jobs and money
Adoboli worked for UBS's global synthetic equities division in London's financial district, buying and selling funds which track different types of stocks or commodities, such as precious metals.
LONDON - A former UBS trader arrested in London on charges of fraud linked with unauthorized trades that cost the Swiss bank more than $2bn pleaded not guilty Monday to the charges against him.
Kweku Adoboli, 31, pleaded not guilty to two counts of fraud and two of false accounting between 2008 and September 2011 at London's Southwark Crown Court.
The trader was arrested on Sept. 14 after on charges of committing fraud that cost the bank over $2 billion.
The incident pushed then-CEO Oswald Gruebel to resign and damaged the bank's efforts to clean up its image after being involved in a United States tax evasion investigation and sustaining huge losses on subprime mortgages during the financial crisis.
City watchdog the Financial Services Authority and its Swiss counterpart have launched an investigation into why UBS failed to spot allegedly fraudulent trading.
Adoboli's case was delayed last year after he replaced his former lawyers at Kingsley Napley law firm with a new team from Bark & Co., which specializes in fraud cases. McCreath set a provisional trial date for September 3 and remanded Adoboli in custody. He said he was willing to hear an application for bail.
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R v Nadir
Description: Bark & Co have been instructed by the former CEO of Polly Peck International (PPI) in an alleged multi-million pound fraud. The client faced 66 counts of Fraud & Theft, but failed to appear in the 1993 trial. Mr Nadir has returned to the UK to fight to clear his name.
The trial date is now set for January 2012.
Significance: One of the first high profile SFO prosecutions.