Ex-Otkritie Trader Gets 12 Years for ‘Arrogant’ Bonus Fraud

Former Otkritie Financial Corp. trader George Urumov was sentenced to 12 years in prison by a London judge for his role in a series of "greed" driven schemes to siphon money from bond trades and bonus agreements to fund a lavish lifestyle, including a 19-million-pound house ($24 million) in a leafy London neighborhood.

Urumov’s sentence, at the top end of the possible prison term, came two days after he was found guilty by a jury of mispricing Argentine warrants in a bid to steal more than $100 million. A former trader at Threadneedle Asset Management, Vladimir Gersamia, was given seven years in prison for his role in the bond scheme.

The sentence brings to an end years of battles in London civil and criminal courts for the 37-year-old Urumov, who convinced Otkritie to pay him and his fixed income team $25 million in a signing-on fee to be shared equally. The reality was that Urumov gave $4.7 million to four colleagues, paid off co-conspirators at the Russian bank and moved the rest through several off-shore companies he controlled. 

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