Authorities in Britain say two London financial traders found guilty of conspiring to defraud a Russian bank of $178 million have been sentenced to long jail terms.
Georgy Urumov, 37, on January 27 received a 12-year sentence and Vladimir Gersamia, 33, got seven years on convictions for multiple fraud charges after a four-month trial in a London court.
Urumov’s sentence was at the top end of the possible prison term.
Prosecutors said the pair were involved in a complex series of scams against the Russian-owned company Otkritie Securities Ltd. (OSL), costing the company some $178 million in losses.
Moscow-based Otkritie said it has been able to recover much of the money taken in the schemes.
Urumov’s wife, Yulia Balk, and an Otkritie colleague, Alessandro Gherzi, were cleared of several fraud and money-laundering accusations by the jury on January 25.