Ex-Barclays traders jailed over Libor rigging
A London court has sentenced four former Barclays traders to prison. They were found guilty of Libor manipulation between 2005 and 2007.
Jay Merchant received six-and-a-half years in prison, Jonathan Mathew and Peter Johnson were each jailed for four years and Alex Pabon got two years and nine months, said Britain’s Serious Fraud Office.
The traders would serve half their sentences in prison and then be released on license, according to Judge Anthony Leonard.
“What this case has shown is the absence of integrity that ought to characterize banking,” said Leonard.
Libor is the interbank offered rate, and is fundamental in global finance affecting trillions of dollars of contracts and loans worldwide, including mortgages and bonds.
The verdicts come four years after Barclays received a hefty fine over rate-fixing. The case evoked political and public reaction forcing the bank’s CEO Bob Diamond to resign.
The UK’s Serious Fraud Office got its first Libor conviction when former UBS and Citigroup trader Tom Hayes was found guilty by a jury for his role in the scandal last August. The broker was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Source: RT
