Six former brokers acted as ‘well-oiled machine’, Libor trial hears
Defendants conspired with convicted trader Tom Hayes to manipulate inter-bank lending rate, prosecution tells court
Six former brokers acted as a “well-oiled machine” to assist convicted trader Tom Hayes to rig Libor interest rates, a court has heard.
Summing up the Serious Fraud Office’s case, Mukul Chawla QC said the former employees of City inter-dealer brokers RP Martin, Icap and Tullett Prebon were guilty of conspiracy to defraud.
He said the six, who have all pleaded not guilty, conspired with former UBS and Citi trader Tom Hayes, who was convicted of the same crime last year.
But defence barrister Henry Blaxland, acting for former Icap broker Darrell Read, said the men were just doing their jobs and had been made scapegoats for a broken system.
Chawla’s arguments on the last day of the prosecution’s case focused largely on the roles of former RP Martin brokers Terry Farr and Jim Gilmour.
He said Farr’s assertion that he did not know it was wrong to seek to influence Libor was undermined by his digital and telephone conversations with Hayes and other contacts.
Chawla cited messages in which Farr said he had to be “a little bit careful” about asking bankers responsible for submitting Libor rates to lower their submissions.
“If it fucking gets back to me [that he was asking for lower Libor submissions] I’ll get fucking shot,” Farr said in one email to a colleague.
Chawla said Farr’s choice of language was a “complete acknowledgement of the illegitimacy of what is taking place”.
Gilmour, who fielded messages from Hayes when Farr was away, has denied making any attempt to influence Libor.
“One member of this double act accepts he acted on Mr Hayes’ request because he didn’t think it was wrong,” said Chawla. “Mr Gilmour denies acting because he knew it was wrong.”
In fact, said Chawla, the pair were “speaking with one voice and […] acting in reality in perfect harmony” as part of a “well-oiled machine”.
The SFO alleges that the men agreed to attempt to influence Libor in exchange for “wash trades”, arranged by Hayes, that would benefit them financially. A wash trade is a transaction designed to make it appear that a purchase and sale has occurred even though no change in ownership occurred.
Chawla attacked the claims of defendant Noel Cryan that while he told Hayes he was influencing Libor rates, he was actually lying to placate Hayes.
He said detailed descriptions given by Cryan to Hayes of the methods he used could not have been made up on the spot.
“Is Mr Cryan such a good liar that he could fabricate all of that detail and all of that apparent commitment to a common cause? This is nothing short of persistent and calculated deceit in exchange for significant sums of money,” Chawla told the court.
Defence barrister Henry Blaxland QC, acting for Read, said manipulation of Libor had been “endemic”, adding that the defendants have “been made scapegoats for the failure of a system for which they are not directly responsible”.
Blaxland said the six were just doing their jobs and would not have been so open in their correspondence if Libor-fixing were not seen as “the norm”.
He added that in the absence of any evidence showing that anyone lost money owing to Libor-rigging, punishing the men for their discussions would amount to convictions for “thought crime”.
Blaxland urged jurors not to let distaste for the “expletive-ridden macho world” of City brokers influence their decision.
Source: TheGuardian – Six former brokers acted as ‘well-oiled machine’, Libor trial hears
