Former UBS Trader Seeks to Appeal Fraud Conviction

Kweku M. Adoboli, a former UBS trader currently serving a seven-year jail sentence for a fraud that prompted a multibillion-dollar loss at the Swiss bank, has requested an appeal.

Mr. Adoboli, who was sentenced in November, filed an “application against his conviction and sentence,” a clerk at Britain’s Court of Appeal said. Tim Harris, Mr. Adoboli’s lawyer, was not immediately available for comment.

Last year, a jury was unanimous in its decision to find him guilty of one count of fraud. The jury was nine to one on a second fraud charge and acquitted Mr. Adoboli on two charges of false accounting. Mr. Adoboli’s jail term is unlikely to be significantly reduced should the second fraud charge be reversed, his lawyer said last year.

Mr. Adoboli had pleaded not guilty on all charges. He argued that his actions were aimed at generating profit for UBS and that colleagues were aware.

But the prosecution had described Mr. Adoboli as a “gambler” who sidestepped rules when it suited him. He was accused of circumventing UBS risk controls and hiding losses by booking fake trades.