Rabobank trader tells jury he ignored traders’ requests to rig Libor 

A former Rabobank trader accused of engaging in a scheme to manipulate Libor told a jury on Wednesday that he sometimes learned of improper requests from traders to rig the benchmark rate, but never acted on them.

The testimony in Manhattan federal court of Anthony Allen, Rabobank’s former global head of liquidity and finance, came as his co-defendant, Anthony Conti, said in court that he would not take the stand in his own defense. Conti’s lawyer had said last week that his client planned to testify.

Prosecutors say that Conti and Allen submitted artificial Libor estimates to benefit Rabobank’s trading positions on derivatives tied to Libor.

Libor, or the London interbank offered rate, is a short-term rate banks charge each other for loans that is calculated based on submissions by a panel of banks. It underpins hundreds of trillions of dollars in financial products globally.

During cross-examination on Wednesday, Allen acknowledged that he repeatedly failed to rebuke subordinates for making improper requests for Libor submissions.

“I didn’t feel a need to,” he said. “I ignored the requests.”

He also said he trusted Conti to set Libor properly and never felt the need to warn him about improper requests from traders.

“Tony Conti was an experienced trader,” Allen said. “I knew he knew how to set Libor.”

Allen and Conti were indicted by a federal grand jury in New York in October 2014, a year after Netherlands-based Rabobank reached a $1 billion deal resolving related U.S. and European probes.

The case is the first by the Justice Department to go to trial following probes by U.S. and European authorities into Libor manipulation by banks.

Those investigations resulted in charges against 22 people in the United States and United Kingdom and around $9 billion in regulatory settlements with financial institutions.

Jurors will hear closing arguments in the Rabobank case on Monday.

Source: Reuters – Rabobank trader tells jury he ignored traders’ requests to rig Libor

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