Adoboli’s ex-trader colleague sets up new betting website
A FORMER colleague of jailed rogue trader Kweku Adoboli, who worked on the same desk as the convicted trader when Adoboli racked up unauthorised losses of $2.3bn (£1.4bn), is to launch a new business – an online betting service.
John Hughes, 30, was one of four traders working on the bank’s Exchange Traded Funds desk in the summer of 2011 as Adoboli exposed the Swiss bank to huge losses.
Hughes was dismissed by the bank for gross misconduct in January 2012, four months after Adoboli was charged with two counts of fraud. Hughes was not accused of any criminal activity.
Yesterday, Hughes told City A.M. the site, betsofmates.com, would launch on 1 December and help friends bet with each other on sports events. Hughes gave evidence at Adoboli’s ten week long trial. During evidence, he admitted he knew about Adoboli’s unauthorised trading account.
Sentencing Adoboli to seven years in prison on Tuesday after he was found guilty on two counts of fraud, Justice Keith said: “There is the strong streak of the gambler in you, borne out by your personal trading.”