Former staff are handed prison terms of up to six-and-a-half years over the rigging of the interbank lending rate.
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- 08 Jul 2020
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Four former Barclays bankers have been jailed for rigging the Libor interbank lending rate in a fraud worth millions of pounds.
London's Southwark Crown Court heard the men were motivated by boosting their career prospects rather than money through conspiring to rig the rate.
US resident Jay Merchant, the most senior of the men in the case, was sentenced to six-and-a-half years.
The New York-based former derivatives trader was described in court as bearing "the greatest responsibility" for the crime between 2005 and 2007.
American Alex Pabon was handed a two year and nine month term while Libor submitter Jonathan Mathew, was handed a four-year sentence.
His former boss, Barclays veteran Peter Johnson, received the same sentence.
He admitted the charge in 2014 and did not stand trial with the others.
He was ordered to pay back £114,501 and to pay £30,000 costs but was praised by the judge for his early guilty plea.
Judge Anthony Leonard said: "What this case has shown is the absence of integrity that ought to characterise banking".
Four years ago Barclays was the first of 11 powerful banks and brokerages to be slapped with hefty fines for their role in the rate-fixing scandal - which claimed the job of its-then chief executive, Bob Diamond.
Libor, which stands for London Interbank Offered Rate, is a benchmark for rates on around $450tn of financial contracts and loans including mortgages.
The four men are not the first to be jailed in this country over the Libor issue.
Former Citi and UBS trader Tom Hayes is currently serving an 11-year sentence.
