Former Barclays New York Trio Face Libor Charges in U.K. Court
Three former Barclays Plc (BARC) New York derivatives traders appeared at a London court after being charged with manipulating Libor by U.K. prosecutors, in the second group from the British bank to face U.K. criminal action.
Ryan Reich, Alex Pabon and Jay Merchant had their first hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court today. The group face one count of conspiring “together with other persons to defraud Barclays Plc and its associated entities” between June 2005 and September 2007, according to court documents.
The group are the first U.S.-based bankers to face prosecution in the SFO’s investigation into the manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, in a global probe that has seen regulators levy about $6 billion in fines. Sixteen individuals are facing charges worldwide for alleged rigging of the interest-rate benchmark, including three former Barclays employees in London.
The case has been sent to a higher criminal court and scheduled for a hearing on May 29. The defendants have been granted bail on condition that they each post a 50,000-pound ($84,125) security and they notify prosecutors at the Serious Fraud Office of any travel plans outside the U.S.
Lawyers for all three declined to comment. The men only spoke at the hearing to confirm their names and birth dates.
Source: bloomberg
