Guilty verdict in world's first Libor trial
August 3, 2015
Tom Hayes, a former trader in London who worked for UBS and Citigroup, was found guilty on Monday of persuading and bribing leading financial institutions to rig the London interbank offered rate, or Libor.
It was the first trial of its kind in the world. A jury had deliberated over whether Hayes was the ringleader of a network of brokers and traders from various other banks whom he tapped in order to manipulate the Libor rate, an important benchmark for around $450 trillion (409.7 trillion euros) in financial contracts and consumer loans.
Hayes had denied the eight counts of conspiracy, arguing that Libor was unregulated when he was still working and that he had been transparent about requesting rate levels, which he said were within a "permissible" range.
He now could face up to 10 years in jail for each count against him.
The investigation into Hayes was carried out by Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO), but it was part of a global inquiry into banking fraud that has seen some of the world's largest banks and financial institutions shell out around $9 billion in settlements with regulators.
cjc/jd (Reuters, AFP)