Two former London bankers 'defrauded Libya fund of millions'

Prosecutors in Britain accuse men of fraudulent trading

One of the accused is a former JPMorgan Chase banker. Reuters.

Two former London bankers hired by Libya to manage hundreds of millions of dollars in investments are accused of defrauding the sovereign fund by siphoning off cash for themselves.

Frederic Marino and Yoshiki Ohmura conspired to commit fraud and undertook fraudulent trading between 2009 and 2014, prosecutors alleged at the start of a London trial.

The pair deny all charges.

Mr Marino, an ex-JPMorgan Chase banker, helped set up asset management company FM Capital Partners Ltd to manage money invested from the Libya Africa Investment Portfolio.

Mr Ohmura, a former Julius Baer banker, had acted as a mediator for FM Capital Partners, the prosecutors said at the start of the trial.

Mr Marino was head of JPMorgan’s alternative investment emerging market group in early 2009.

He arranged for fees from the funds to be paid through offshore companies and Mr Ohmura assisted him through another company, allowing them to take a cut, prosecutors said.

The payments, which were worth more than $14 million and $1.3m, respectively, involved 17 investments made by the Libyan fund to four investment banks between 2009 and 2011.

Some of the siphoned money was used to pay off people who were aware of the scheme. All of this was done without the knowledge of the fund.