Adoboli tells court he lied to protect colleagues and was not an addict
ACCUSED UBS rogue trader Kweku Adoboli denied yesterday that he was addicted to gambling, saying that losses on his personal betting accounts were due to his life spiralling out of control.
Adoboli also told a London court that he had been lying to protect his colleagues when he said in an email to the Swiss bank on 14 September 2011 that he was the only person responsible for trading losses of $2.3bn.
Adoboli, 32, was arrested at UBS offices in the early hours of 15 September 2011. He denies charges of fraud and false accounting.
Prosecutor Sasha Wass has described him throughout the trial as a gambler. “You were an addicted gambler. You were spending every penny that you had to feed your addiction. That’s what addicts do,” she told Adoboli.
“There was not an addiction,” Adoboli said, arguing spread-betting was common among traders and that it helped them to keep in touch with the market and “to be better traders”.
In a separate strand of evidence Adoboli said many of the details in his email of 14 September 2011, and in meetings later that day, were untrue.
“I was trying to protect everybody, not just the desk, not just the senior guys, but also the back office,” Adoboli said. The trial continues.