Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: U.K. justice sends “message” with 14-year LIBOR sentence, (Aug 4, 2015)
Organizations Mentioned:Citicorp | Citicorp. Inc. | UBS AG | UBS, AG
By Mark S. Nelson, J.D.
Former derivatives trader Tom Hayes has been sentenced to a total of 14 years in prison for his role in manipulation of the Yen LIBOR rate. The U.K. Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced yesterday that a justice imposed the sentence after a trial in which a jury convicted Hayes on all eight counts of conspiracy to defraud. This was the first U.K. trial in the SFO’s long-running investigation of LIBOR manipulations.
Hayes became a target for U.K. prosecutors because of his prior work as a derivatives trader at UBS (2006-2009) and Citigroup (2009-2010). SFO Director David Green emphasized the need for bankers to play by the rules. “The jury were sure that in his admitted manipulation of LIBOR, Hayes was indeed dishonest. The verdicts underline the point that bankers are subject to the same standards of honesty as the rest of us.”
According to Justice Cooke, who presided at Hayes’s trial, the length of the sentence matches the gravity of Hayes’s conduct. “The seriousness of the offence is hard to overstate … A message has been sent out to the world of banking accordingly [that] probity and honesty are essential.”
The SFO said the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, is the financial engine for trillions of pounds in transactions that depend on the rate to set deal prices. The SFO’s investigation led to a prior guilty plea, and other traders are set for trial in January 2016 on charges they manipulated the U.S. Dollar LIBOR.
Companies: UBS AG; Citicorp. Inc.
News: Antitrust