Former Nomura trader to plead guilty to U.S. charges

March 11 (Reuters) - A former Nomura Holdings Inc (Other OTC: NRSCF - news) trader is expected to plead guilty on Wednesday in a criminal case after waiving indictment, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly in Connecticut said.

Matthew Katke, the trader, is expected to enter his plea in the federal court in Hartford, Connecticut.

Daly's spokesman declined to discuss the nature of the charges against Katke. A lawyer for the defendant could not immediately be identified.

Katke had traded collateralized loan obligations, which are securities typically backed by low-rated corporate debt, at Nomura before his employment was terminated this month, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person was not authorized to be identified.

According to financial industry records, Katke joined Nomura in August 2013 after having spent five years at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, and six years before that at Bear Stearns Cos.

The expected plea comes one year after a federal jury in New (KOSDAQ: 160550.KQ - news) Haven, Connecticut convicted former Jefferies Group Inc managing director Jesse Litvak for defrauding bond investors after the financial crisis.

Jurors found that Litvak lied to customers, including participants in a program created under the $700 billion federal bailout, about prices of mortgage-backed securities he bought and sold, in a bid to boost Jefferies' profit and his own pay.

Daly is trying to salvage that conviction and Litvak's two-year prison term, after a federal appeals court in New York said Litvak's appeal raised an issue likely to result in a reversal. Jefferies is a unit of Leucadia National Corp.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Diane Craft)