Even my close friends are convinced I am a criminal – Kweku Adoboli wails

A former investment manager and rogue trader Kweku Adoboli, who was convicted of illegally trading away US$2.3billion as a trader for Swiss investment bank UBS has said that it hurts him that his very close friends are as convinced about his criminality as the general public, and is blaming the media for creating an image of him to the world that is false, MyNewsGh.com has filed.

In his solemn words he stated: “Till this day, it still hurts to think that was the image of me that was sold to the world. ..and it hurts because my friends don’t believe who I am either…and it hurts because I have spent the last five years trying to help everyone understand that that is not who I am”

According to him, he has been described by sections as the world’s criminal mastermind fraudster, a greedy selfish, arrogant, hard-partying, womanizing, gambling, lying, cheating fraudster of a banker.

“When the headlines broke, this is the person I became. To the world I am a criminal mastermind fraudster, a rogue trader who lost his bank $2.3 billion dollars, my name became global headline news on 15th September 2011”, he revealed in an interview MyNewsGh.com monitored.

He disclosed that he has been described with very unpalatable adjectives ever painting a rather different image of him from the reality.



“I represent all that is wrong in our financial industry. A greedy selfish, arrogant, hard-partying, womanizing, gambling, lying, cheating fraudster of a banker…and for that I had to spend three and half years over seven years sentence in prison”

Continuing his story, he said “the problem is, that is not who I am. Till this day, it still hurts to think that was the image of me that was sold to the world. ..and it hurts because my friends don’t believe who I am either…and it hurts because I have spent the last five years trying to help everyone understand that that is not who I am”

Kweku Adoboli admits many people know his story but there was the need for him to tell them his version to enable them put the bits and pieces together.

“It is true that by now that most people know my story. What is important for me though is that whilst the headlines are really important, I also need to recap the story and put in the bits that are missing because it is in that context that I think that really helps to drive home what were the causes for what happened at UBS in December of 2011 but also why I made the decisions I made and what I think after five years of reflection there is to gain for society as a whole the finance industry 2 and in this case I am really grateful to look at it from the legal point of view too because ultimately my experience in the last five years tells me that both regulations and the law don’t work to regulate and control behavior in our institutions especially in our financing institutions”

“Well, I think it is important to back right to the beginning to bring you but to where we were when this story first broke out in September 2011

When the headlines broke, this is the person I became. To the world I am a criminal mastermind fraudster, a rogue trader who lost his bank $2.3 billion dollars, my name became global headline news on 15th September 2011. It seems the world will finally get to punish a banker after excesses that had led to the biggest financial crises in living memory. I represent all that is wrong in our financial industry”, he sadly recounted.

Source: Mynewsgh.com