Jurors to Hear About the Fabulous Fab

It’s hard to live down a nickname.

Fabrice Tourre, the former Goldman Sachs trader whose civil trial is scheduled to begin Monday, has tentatively lost his bid to exclude from evidence an e-mail that references the nickname “Fabulous Fab,” given to him, he says, by a friend.

Judge Katherine Forrest of Federal District Court in Manhattan filed a preliminary decision on the e-mail on Wednesday, indicating that she overruled his request to keep it away from jurors’ eyes. Mr. Tourre is fighting accusations brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission that he was part of a conspiracy to mislead investors when selling a mortgage security in 2007 that ultimately failed.

Since the e-mail first came light in April 2010, the nickname has stuck, and Mr. Tourre is widely known on Wall Street as the Fabulous Fab.

The e-mail was one of many Mr. Tourre wrote to his girlfriend, in which he joked about the downfall of the mortgage market. “The whole building is about to collapse anytime now,” he said, adding that he was the “only potential survivor” of these “complex, highly leveraged, exotic trades he created.” He also noted that a friend “kindly” labeled him the “fabulous Fab,” even though “there is nothing fabulous about me.”

Matthew T. Martens, chief litigation counsel in the S.E.C.’s enforcement department, said in court on Tuesday that he wanted to refer to the e-mails in his opening statement. He said the e-mails “go directly to his state of mind”.

John “Sean” Coffey, a lawyer for Mr. Tourre, argued the e-mails were private and not related to the case.

The trial is expected to last about three weeks and will be heard by nine jurors.

Goldman was charged alongside Mr. Tourre but opted to settle, paying a record $550 million without admitting or denying guilt.