‘He believed he could not lose’, says prosecution in Kweku Adoboli trial
THE prosecution told the court that Kweku Adoboli sent his losses spiralling upwards by using a gambling system in which he increased his bet each time he lost.
He used a technique similar to a “martingale” where the punter believes he cannot lose because his bets will eventually come good.
Prosecutor Sasha Wass QC said: “For example a gambler might bet £100 on the toss of a coin that heads will win.
“If heads loses, to recover his loss, the gambler simply bets £200, again on heads.
“If heads loses again, he bets £400 on heads and so on.
“If he continues to bet on heads, the odds are that heads will eventually turn up and the gambler will recover his losses and make a profit.
“The trouble is that ‘eventually’ can be a long time coming.”
Ms Wass said that for traders on the stock market, the system might involve betting $200million, then $400million, then $800million when the losses mount after failed bets.
If heads loses, to recover his loss, the gambler simply bets £200, again on heads
She said: “It takes very deep pockets to run such a system – pockets the size of the UBS bank.
“He had been sucked into the gambler’s mindset and he started throwing good money after bad as he waited for the markets to change in his direction.”