Kareem Serageldin (/ˈsɛrəɡɛldɪn/) (born in 1973) is a former executive at Credit Suisse. He is notable for being the only banker in the United States to be sentenced to jail time as a result of the financial crisis of 2007–2008, a conviction resulting from mismarking bond prices to hide losses.[1][2]
Kareem Serageldin | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1973 (age 50–51) |
| Education | Yale University (1994) |
| Known for | The only American to serve jail time as a result of the financial crisis of 2007–2008 |
Early life and education
editSerageldin was born in Cairo, Egypt to parents of modest means. He moved to the United States as a child and spent most of his childhood in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.[3][2] He graduated from Yale University in 1994.[4]
Career
editUpon graduating in 1994, he joined the information technology department of Credit Suisse.[2] He moved to London 4 years later to work in the bank's catastrophe bonds business.[2][3] By age 33, he was named the global head of structured credit.[5] By 2007, he was supervising 70 employees and more than $50 billion in trading positions.[3] Despite earning approximately $7 million per year, Serageldin lived modestly; his apartment overlooking London Victoria station was described by his friends as "a grown-up dorm room".[2]
By early 2008, he was fired from Credit Suisse and was reported to the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York for falsifying records.[2]
Conviction
editOn February 1, 2012, Serageldin was charged by Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation[6] as well as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.[7]
On April 12, 2013, Serageldin pleaded guilty to fraudulently inflating the prices of asset-backed bonds which comprised subprime residential mortgage backed securities and commercial mortgage backed securities in Credit Suisse's trading book in late 2007 and early 2008.[8]
On November 22, 2013, Judge Alvin Hellerstein sentenced Serageldin to 30 months in prison.[9][3] Serageldin also agreed to return $25.6 million in compensation to Credit Suisse.[3]
On January 21, 2014, Serageldin was ordered to pay more than $1 million to settle the lawsuit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He was also effectively barred from the securities industry.[3][10]
Serageldin said he committed the crime "To preserve my reputation in the bank at a time when there was great financial turmoil".[8]
He served at the Moshannon Valley Correctional Center[1] and was released in March 2016.[11]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "Why Only One Top Banker Went to Jail for the Financial Crisis". The New York Times. May 4, 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f Eisinger, Jesse (April 30, 2014). "The Rise of Corporate Impunity". ProPublica.
- ^ a b c d e f Raymond, Nate (November 22, 2013). "Former Credit Suisse trader Serageldin gets 30 months in jail". Reuters.
- ^ "Kareem Serageldin '94: 'worst day of my life'". Yale Alumni Magazine. December 1, 2013.
- ^ ABRAMS, RACHEL; LATTMAN, PETER (November 22, 2013). "Ex-Credit Suisse Executive Sentenced in Mortgage Bond Case". The New York Times.
- ^ "Manhattan U.S. Attorney and FBI Assistant Director in Charge Announce Charges Against Two Former Credit Suisse Managing Directors and Vice President for Fraudulently Inflating Subprime Mortgage-Related Bond Prices in Trading Book" (Press release). Federal Bureau of Investigation. February 1, 2012.
- ^ "SEC Charges Former Credit Suisse Investment Bankers in Subprime Bond Pricing Scheme" (Press release). U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. February 1, 2012.
- ^ a b LATTMAN, PETER (April 12, 2013). "Former Credit Suisse Executive Pleads Guilty to Inflating the Value of Mortgage Bonds". The New York Times.
- ^ "Former Credit Suisse Managing Director Sentenced In Manhattan Federal Court To 30 Months In Prison In Connection With Scheme To Hide Losses In Mortgage-Backed Securities Trading Book" (Press release).
- ^ "U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Plaintiff, v. Kareem Serageldin, David Higgs, Faisal Siddiqui and Salmaan Siddiqui, Defendants" (PDF). U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
- ^ Cohan, William D. (July 21, 2016). "A Clue to the Scarcity of Financial Crisis Prosecutions". The New York Times.