Jail for the financiers who made millions from Gaddafi’s Libya

Two greedy financiers who pocketed millions of pounds in secret fees from Colonel Gaddafi’s Libyan regime were jailed for a total of 11 years today (mon).

Former JP Morgan banker Frederic Marino, 56, and amateur racing driver Yoshiki Ohmura, 47, received commissions through Libyan Africa Portfolio Ltd (LAP) for more than five years.

Marino and business partner Aurelien Bessot, 47, set up the FM Capital Partners Ltd, which was responsible for a total of $800m managed for LAP.

Marino blew company cash on clothes, restaurant bills and ran up a £165,000 bill at the five-star Lanesborough Hotel in Knightsbridge, including £42,000 spent on parking.

The Frenchman did not attend his two month trial after suffering a mental breakdown and he was convicted of fraud by abuse of position of trust.

Marino was jailed for a total of seven and a half years in his absence at Southwark Crown Court today.

Fellow director Ohmura, the team principle of Switzerland’s Formula 2000 racing team Squadra Corse, denied but was convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud by abuse of position of trust between 1 February 2009 and 31 October 2014.

Ohmura, did not attend the sentencing, as he is thought to be in Switzerland.

He was jailed for a total of three and a half years in his absence.

Frenchman Bessot earlier admitted fraud by abuse of position. He was the only one to attend court and he was handed a suspended jail sentence.

Judge Tony Baumgartner issued warrants for the arrests of the two absent financiers and directing his remarks at Marino he said:

‘As far as I know you remain at liberty in Paris. Your failure to surrender serves to underscore your lack of insight into your offending and you have shown no remorse whatsoever for what you have done.

‘You are in my judgement a greedy corrupt and manipulative man. You thought nothing of your offending or how it would affect others including Ohmura and Bessott.

‘You targeted the collective wealth of the Libyan people as a group.

‘You have shown no remorse.’

Bessot was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment suspended for two years as Judge Baumgartner said: ‘You are truly remorseful’

‘You have been robbed of a career which is the dream of many. You did all you could to assist the prosecution in this case.’

Prosecutor Julian Christopher earlier told the court: ‘These were fraudulent payments and a dishonest abuse of the trust placed in Marino to look after LAP’s financial interests.

‘The investment of hundreds of million of dollars was entrusted to a company set up for the purpose in Libya by Frederic Marino and Aurelien Bessot.

‘The two of them set up a company. Mr Marino and Mr Bessot secretly arranged for a proportion of the funds to be paid to themselves by an offshore company and they were assisted by Ohmura.’

Ohmura set up his company to function as an intermediary between Marino’s firm and siphon a 10 per cent cut.

‘In all there are 17 investments made by LAP between 2009 and 2011,’ Mr Christopher said.

‘There were also fees paid to an offshore company supposedly acting as the introducer, arranger, distributer, of the financial products and those fees ended up in the pockets of Mr Marino, Mr Bessot and Mr Ohmura.’

Mr Christopher said: ‘There is no doubt that the transactions were made. The fact of the money payment is not disputed.

‘We must determine whether these fees were a dishonest abuse of trust or were they in fact fees LAP had agreed to pay personally.

‘In total $250 million was invested in structured products and these structured products gave rise to the fees concerned.’

Transactions came through Swiss bank Julius Baer, Deutsche Bank and Rabobank, the court was heard.

‘Ohmura was employed in Switzerland by Julius Baer group. Mr Ohmura’s job was to be head of Global Asset Management (GAM) structured investments and he did that job from Switzerland.

‘He left GAM on 31 August 2009.’

Ohmura went on to set up both Conquest Capital Ltd and Conquest Capital Partners.

‘[Marino] paid $625,000 – which was a reward for his part in bringing about the three-and-a-bit million dollars to Marino.’

‘Most of the transactions followed a pattern: Paying fees to Omhura’s company Conquest Partners and paying on to a company that had been set up in the Seychelles.

Mr Christopher added: ‘2011 was a momentous year in Libya because up to that point the Libyan leader was Colonel Gaddafi, in what was referred to as the Arab Spring.

‘What followed was a period of considerable instability and Libya was subject to international sanctions.

‘In the early 2000s they [Marino and Bessot] were working in London. Mr Bessot was a trader and Marino was a salesperson.’

Marino was responsible for creating and selling financial products at Rabobank before moving to JP Morgan, the court heard.

‘Marino’s job involved working in Libya. He had contact with those responsible for working with Libya’s work funds.’

Matthew Sherratt, for Marino, said it was not a fraud that targeted vulnerable people.

‘We are dealing with a sovereign wealth fund with enormous wealth.’

The judge asked: ‘What about the people of Libya?’, asked Judge Baumgartner

Mr Sherratt replied: ‘You can’t divorce this from the Gadaffi regime. Hundreds of millions were taken from the Libyan people by the regime.’

‘That doesn’t make this offending any better’ said Judge Baumgartner.

Mr Sherratt said: ‘In terms of high impact it would not have had a high impact on the people of Libya in the context of what was going on at the time.’

He added: ‘This is a very long time to be gnawing away at someone’s life day in and day out’

Defending Bessot, Jonathan Barnard said: ‘He was a very very hard working, very bright young man. He has always been something of a geek.

‘It is not something he forced himself to do. He has always taken pure delight in numbers. The best place to indulge himself was in the financial markets.’

‘All say this offence was completely out of character’

‘Of course he should have walked away. He wasn’t doing it because he was greedy.’

‘He (Marino) was extremely controlling. He seemed to be on a power trip, enjoying the fact that in his mind he he was running his own company.

‘He could be quite a bully and a bit tyrannical.’

He said Bessott now feels ashamed.

‘He feels embarrassed, and he knows that he has ruined his life and he will have to live with that. He could not be more sorry.’

Bessot has paid back more than what he had gained in 2016.

‘He paid back more than he personally got by half a million dollars. That is no empty gesture. He has literally put his money where his mouth is. The victims were satisfied.’

Adrian Waterman, for Ohmura said: ‘This is a man of impeccably good character.

‘The time lapse is very considerable indeed.

‘The impact on him will be very significant indeed. The career which he pursued with energy and which he was proud of will for the remainder of his life be denied to him.’

Marino, of Paris, and Ohmura, of Olney, Milton Keynes, denied conspiracy to commit fraud by abuse of position of trust and fraudulent trading.

Bessot, of Paris, admitted fraud by abuse of position.

Andrew West of the CPS said: ‘These three fraudsters were calculating and opportunistic in committing offences that left the people of Libya out of pocket by approximately $8.45 million for purely selfish and greedy purposes to fund their lavish lifestyles.

‘They showed a complete disregard for the important position they held to make investments work for their clients who were looking to diversify away from solely oil revenues.

‘We would like to thank the hard work and dedication of the National Crime Agency in their diligent and determined investigation.’
ENDS