A friend of UBS trader Kweku Adoboli, accused of losing $2.3 billion (1.77 billion euros), jokingly compared him to French rogue trader Jerome Kerviel in an email exchange, a London court heard Thursday.
The jury at Southwark Crown Court heard the email conversation between Adoboli and a female friend dating from 2008, when Kerviel brought French bank Societe Generale bank to the brink of collapse by gambling away 4.9 billion euros ($6.3 billion).
Adoboli, 32, was sent a humorous article by his friend Sarah Moore which joked that Kerviel’s losses were down to the ‘stress’ of working a 30-hour week.
“It brings so much joy, this story”, Adoboli replied, adding: “And to think he does exactly what… I do,” meaning the same job.
In her subsequent reply, his friend raised the similarities between Adoboli’s work and Kerviel’s and told him: “The more I have read about this, the more interesting parallels I see with your life.”
She added: “Please don’t let me read about you in the papers in the same fashion.”
The conversation emerged as prosecutors wrapped up their evidence against Adoboli, who is now expected to enter the witness box on Friday, six weeks after the trial started.
Adoboli, the Ghanaian-born son of a retired United Nations official, is accused of faking hedge deals by inventing clients, leaving the Swiss bank exposed to huge losses when the market turned against him.
He denies two charges of fraud and two charges of false accounting relating to a period between October 2008 and September last year.
Besides the email exchange, the jury also heard that Adoboli often came into the office outside of regular working hours.
Don't be like Kerviel, said friend of UBS 'rogue trader'
