Swiss Bank UBS has agreed a settlement with Japan's Sumitomo Corporation regarding outstanding litigation relating to copper-related transactions in 1995 and 1996.
The litigation relates to a scandal that erupted in 1996 when it was discovered that Sumitomo’s chief copper trader Yasuo Hamanaka had lost $2.6 billion in unauthorized trading over a period of ten years. Mr Hamanaka was found guilty of fraud, while Sumitomo went looking to recover some of it losses through litigation.
The case, which has been under appeal since 2004, has finally been settled with UBS agreeing to pay Sumitomo Corporation $86 million, though with no admission of wrongdoing on its part. With the agreement, the companies said that all claims brought by Sumitomo Corporation in the litigation had been settled.