Russia claims ex-Deutsche Bank trader rigged markets

[MOSCOW] Russia's central bank on Tuesday said a former Deutsche Bank trader allegedly gained millions of dollars by illegally manipulating the stock markets in the country.

Yuri Khilov, the ex-head of the bank's Russian trading desk, and his relatives are alleged to have pocketed large amounts of money at the expense of the German lender, the central bank said on its website.

Central bank official Valery Lyakh separately told journalists that the amount in question was about 255 million rubles (S$6.1 million) between 2013 and 2015, according to news agencies.

The bank added that the alleged scheme - which involved using Deutsche Bank's London facilities to boost share prices held by Zhilov's relatives - had been uncovered with help from Germany's financial authorities and forwarded to law enforcement agencies.

The illicit profits were allegedly made on the back of total trades worth some 300 billion rubles, Ms Lyakh said, adding the fraud could have gone back to 2009.

The trades targeted Russia's gas giant Gazprom, state banks VTB and Sberbank and the oil majors Rosneft and Lukoil, the central bank said.

The scandal comes with Deutsche Bank already feeling the heat over so-called "mirror" trading that allegedly allowed Russian clients to move billions of dollars out of the country under the radar.

AFP