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Barely two hours ago, the UK courts found a former UBS (UBSN:VX) trader guilty of a second count of fraud. It’s about time that some of the low-lifes who are living the high-life at British taxpayer expense start living the secluded life. It’s about time that these pocks on the face of dignity get dragged out of their corner office and Lamborghini and into a luxury one-room “condo” at a government “rehab” center. Oh for the good-old days when “rehab” was a rack.
I don’t know about you, but I would rather pay the cost of Kweku Adoboli’s room and board for the rest of his life than keep on letting him have access to our money. One of the UK’s revised versions of Robin Hood (he took from everyone and gave it to the casinos) is about to enjoy the serenity of prison life where he might well have a room of his own and he will get to have the ‘special of the day’ for all three meals.
The unfortunate part of this story is that he could be ending up being a scapegoat for an entire system gone wrong. His testimony, whether it is to be believed or not, included reference to the pressures put on him by upper management (sounds right) and the ‘awareness’ of his activities among his peers (What did they know? What did they do about it?)
Adoboli’s salary rose from £30,000 to £360,000 over a period of eight years. Which leads me to wonder what his bosses were thinking. Were they so revenue-focused that they really believe that this guy was that good when this guy was actually that bad? Were they so greedy themselves that they didn’t care about anything except the bonuses they would pocket as a result of the bottom line. Or were they so inept that they couldn’t see what was happening. Or, worse, are they so corrupt and morally bankrupt themselves that they didn’t see anything wrong with what he was doing? These are the questions that puzzle me — and ought to puzzle all of us. How many are really guilty as homemade sin and how few will see their punishment visit upon them in a UK establishment for penitents who are penitent only because they got caught?
According to the prosecutors in the case, at one time Abodoli had the firm exposed to over £7 billion in illicit trades. Ultimately he was charged with fraud in the amount of £1.5 billion. As they described it, Adoboli was “a gamble or two away from destroying Switzerland’s largest bank.”
London Police Deputy Chief Inspector Perry Stokes said that Abodoli’s motive was “to be known as a star trader at UBS.”
I agree that Abodoli is guilty. DCI Stokes said that this case should be a warning to others. That’s all well and good, but Mr. Stokes, with all due respect, those higher on the food chain than Abodoli know how to better cover their tracks and line the pockets of those who would do them in or turn them in, and, whilst some of those below him may be frightened into abiding by the law, there will still be some who, according to human nature, will fly under the radar whilst hatching new schemes to defraud us. That’s the way the system works. And that’s why you have your job.
If we gain nothing else from this weak economy, it might be that it will expose at least some of the iceberg that is below the waterline.
UBS shares were stable today at 14.29 CHF with no apparent reaction to the news.
