Credit Suisse trader bailed on £1.8bn US fraud charge
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Your support makes all the difference.A former senior trader at Credit Suisse, who was arrested in London on fraud charges this week, was granted bail yesterday, with his lawyer saying he would fight plans for his extradition to the US.
Kareem Serageldin, the former global head of structure credit trading for the Swiss bank, is wanted in the US on fraud charges involving subprime mortgage bonds worth $3bn (£1.8bn).
At a hearing at Westminster magistrates' court, he was granted bail set at £150,000 – £100,000 in cash and a £50,000 surety. After he refused to consent to extradition to America, Mr Serageldin was told that a further hearing would take place on 28 November. He will be required to wear an electronic tag while on bail.
Mr Serageldin is the most senior executive to be charged in a scandal dating back to 2007.
Prosecutors claim that mortgage-backed securities traders were caught trying to cover up $540m in losses on their books.
The Egyptian-born banker was arrested outside the US embassy in London on Wednesday after American officials filed criminal charges against him relating to inflating mortgage-bond values during the financial crisis of 2008. Prosecutors in the US had been waiting for almost eight months for Mr Serageldin, 39, to return to the country to face charges. In February, two of his ex-colleagues pleaded guilty to wire fraud and falsifying books and records, and admitted to having acted to cover up losses on Mr Serageldin's orders.
Yesterday, his lawyer, Ben Brandon, told Judge Michael Snow that his client had been in talks to settle fraud charges he faces in the US at the time the Metropolitan Police arrested him this week. He claimed the former banker made attempts going back three years to resolve the US charges with officials including the Department of Justice.
In February, two former Credit Suisse employees pleaded guilty in a US federal court to wire fraud and falsifying books and records.
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