The rogue UBS trader who allegedly lost $2.3 billion singlehandedly in unauthorized trades will be held in custody for an additional month, news reports said Thursday.
Kweku Adoboli, 31, appeared in a packed London courtroom on Thursday, where he did not enter a plea, and spoke only to confirm his name and address, reports Reuters. Lawyer Patrick Gibbs did most of the talking, saying Adoboli was “sorry beyond words for what happened.”
"He stands now appalled at the scale of the consequences of his disastrous miscalculations," Gibbs said, according to the BBC.
Adoboli was there to face an additional count of fraud beyond the initial charges of falsified records and fraud that lead to some $1.5 billion in trading losses for UBS. The newest charge, according to prosecutor David Levy, is for offenses that allegedly took place between October 1, 2008 and December 31, 2010, Reuters said. The preliminary fraud charges are for offenses that are alleged to have taken place between January 1 and September 14 of 2011.
Chief magistrate Alison Gowan said that Mr. Adoboli would return to the court on October 20 for a committal hearing, according to Reuters.
Mr. Adoboli’s losses are among the highest ever recorded among so-called rogue traders. He was trumped by French trader Jerome Kerviel, who in 2008 lost $6 billion for Societe General, and also by Yasuo Hamanaka, who lost $2.6 billion for Sumitomo Corporation in the 1990s.
