Conviction upheld for trader who bragged scam was like ‘f–king Christmas’

Christmas just got cancelled for Mark Johnson.

A New York appeals court on Thursday upheld a conviction against the ex-HSBC currency trader, who was found guilty in 2017 of masterminding a $3.5 billion market-rigging scheme that defrauded one of the world’s largest energy companies.

Johnson, 53, had bragged that the scam was like “f–king Christmas” after defrauding the oil and gas company Cairn Energy, an HSBC client, and turning a profit for the bank, according to court documents.

During the trial, a jury also heard evidence that Johnson bragged that he’d “gotten away” with the scam.

The case against the ex-trader almost slipped through the government’s hands before it started. In 2016, FBI agents swarmed Johnson at JFK Airport as he was boarding a plane to London — just before the plane was scheduled to take off.

In the front-running scam, Johnson and a co-worker, Stuart Scott, bought British pounds from a bank’s account ahead of the giant Cairn order in 2011 — falsely inflating the price of the currency and the fees paid by Cairn.

Johnson and Scott made $8 million for themselves and the company on the front-running trades. Scott, who like Johnson is a UK citizen, last year won a rare court battle challenging his extradition. HSBC hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing.

Johnson was found guilty in 2017 on nine of 10 counts of conspiracy and wire fraud by a jury in Brooklyn federal court after a four-week trial.

Last year, Johnson was sentenced to two years in prison. It’s unclear when his sentence will start.

The three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Appeals Court on Thursday unanimously ruled that a jury had enough evidence to convict Johnson of defrauding Cairn about a giant transaction converting millions of US dollars into British pounds.

Frank Wohl, a lawyer for Johnson, didn’t return a request for comment.