Sun, 25 May 2025

Sun, 25 May 2025 Rate 'rigging' traders say they were scapegoated - now the Supreme Court will decide

Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo were among 37 City traders prosecuted for "manipulating" interest rate benchmarks.
Background: The article discusses the case of two former bankers, Gavin Black and Matt Connolly, who were accused of "rigging" Libor (the London Interbank Offered Rate) during the 2008 financial crisis. They had been convicted in 2018 on similar charges to two other defendants, Hayley and Palombo. The Case: The article explains that the defendants argued that they had not asked for false answers to be given to the Libor question, but rather tried to ensure their bank selected a commercially advantageous rate from the range of accurate interest rates. They claimed that this was normal commercial practice in the banking industry. New Evidence: Recent evidence uncovered by the BBC suggests that governments and central banks from around the world, including those at Downing Street and the Treasury, pressured banks to push Libor down artificially during the financial crisis. This had a much greater impact on interest rates than the defendants' actions. The Ruling: In 2021, a US appeal court acquitted two former Deutsche Bank traders, saying that prosecutors had failed to produce any evidence they had asked for false rates to be submitted. All US convictions for 'rigging' Libor were subsequently thrown out. Path to Supreme Court: However, the UK courts continued to block the path to the Supreme Court until 2024, when Court of Appeal judges certified that there was a point of law of general public importance at stake. Supreme Court Hearing: The Supreme Court heard arguments in February 2025 that judges in the lower courts had told juries that Hayes and Palombo's requests were wrong as a matter of law – when it should have been left as a matter of fact for the jury to decide. I'll stop here, but if you want me to summarize the article further or provide any specific information, feel free to ask!
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