Five former Barclays traders jailed over attempts to manipulate benchmark interest rates have had their convictions quashed by London’s Court of Appeal.
The court overturned the convictions of Philippe Moryoussef, Jay Merchant, Colin Bermingham, Jonathan Mathew and Alex Pabon on Wednesday.
The ruling represents another major reversal for the UK Serious Fraud Office, whose Libor and Euribor prosecutions became some of its most prominent cases following the 2007-09 financial crisis.
The five men were convicted between 2016 and 2019 and received prison sentences ranging from 33 months to eight years.
Their appeals followed the Supreme Court’s decision last year to overturn the convictions of former UBS and Citigroup trader Tom Hayes and former Barclays trader Carlo Palombo.
That judgment found that juries in the earlier trials had been misdirected on an important question of law concerning what constituted dishonest manipulation of Libor and Euribor.
The Supreme Court decision did not conclude that there had been no evidence against the traders. Rather, it found that the legal directions given to juries meant the convictions could not safely stand.
The Court of Appeal has now quashed the five convictions, but the judgment does not amount to a fresh trial determining that all of the underlying trading conduct was legitimate. The SFO chose not to oppose the five appeals.
It reiterated that the Supreme Court had previously said there had been “ample evidence” upon which properly directed juries could have convicted Hayes and Palombo, while accepting that the subsequent legal position meant it would not contest the latest cases.
The decision further dismantles a series of prosecutions that became symbolic of attempts by UK authorities to hold individual bankers responsible for misconduct surrounding the financial crisis.
Libor and Euribor were once among the world’s most important financial benchmarks, helping determine borrowing costs across an estimated $450 trillion of financial products, including derivatives, corporate loans, mortgages and other contracts.
The scandal centred on traders seeking to influence submissions used in calculating those benchmark rates.
Outside court, Colin Bermingham said it was difficult to comprehend finally having his conviction overturned.
Jonathan Mathew described the decision as validation that his conviction represented an injustice.
Moryoussef, who was tried in his absence after leaving the UK for France and was sentenced to eight years, said the ruling allowed him to contemplate the next chapter of his life.
Former Deutsche Bank trader Christian Bittar, who was jailed in 2018 after pleading guilty in connection with Euribor manipulation, is also pursuing an appeal.
Unlike the five Barclays-related cases, the SFO is expected to contest Bittar’s challenge, making his case an important further test of how far the Supreme Court ruling will unwind the remaining benchmark-rigging convictions.
