Jailed City traders have their convictions quashed

TWO financial market traders who were jailed for manipulating benchmark interest rates have had their convictions quashed at the Supreme Court.

- DANNY HALPIN AND NINA MASSEY

Former Citigroup and UBS trader Tom Hayes was found guilty of multiple counts of conspiracy to defraud over manipulating the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (Libor) between 2006 and 2010.

Carlo Palombo, ex-vice president of euro rates at Barclays bank, was found guilty of conspiring with others to submit false or misleading Euro Interbank Offered Rate (Euribor) submissions between 2005 and 2009.

The Court of Appeal dismissed appeals from both men in March last year.

They then took their cases to the Supreme Court. Yesterday, the panel of five justices found there was “ample evidence” for a jury to convict the two men had it been properly directed, but they had not.

In an 82-page judgment, with which Supreme Court president Lord Reed, Lords Hodge and Lloyd-Jones and Lady Simler agreed, Lord Leggatt said: “That misdirection undermined the fairness of the trial.”

The jury direction errors made both convictions unsafe, Lord Leggatt said.

He added: “Mr Hayes was entitled to have his defence to the allegation that he agreed to procure false submissions as well as his denial that he had acted dishonestly left fairly to the jury.

“He was deprived of that opportunity by directions which were legally inaccurate and unfair.