UBS Rogue Trader’s Losses Could Have Topped $12 Billion: Prosecutor

Adoboli could face as much as 10 years on the fraud charges—there are two—for abusing his senior trader position on the bank's Delta One desk "by causing or exposing UBS Bank to losses intending thereby to make a gain for himself." The falsification charges—also two—carry prison terms in the U.K. of up to seven years each.

Wass said that in his quest to boost his bonus, his status at the bank, his job prospects and his ego, Adoboli far exceeded his trading limits and then invented "fictitious deals to conceal this."

She was quoted saying, "This colossal loss arose purely as a result of Mr. Adoboli's fraudulent deal-making, which amounted, as we will see, to nothing more than gambling." She added, "Mr. Adoboli's activities were far more deliberate than that of a mere rogue trader. He did not simply make a few wild bets. He faked bookings, he created false accounts and conducted himself as a master fraudster, deliberately and systematically deceiving and defrauding the bank which was employing him."

Adoboli was held in Wandsworth Prison after his arrest on Sept. 15 last year until he was granted bail in June. Since then he has been staying with a friend in London, according to his lawyer, and as part of the bail terms, has surrendered his Ghanaian passport and is subject to a curfew.