UK regulator says former ICAP brokers conspired with trader to rig Japanese Libor

According to UK prosecutors today, three former brokers at ICAP had conspired to ex-UBS AG and Citigroup Inc trader Tom Hayes in rigging benchmark rates. Daniel Wilkinson, Colin Goodman and Darrell Read, who had been granted bail today on charges of rigging the London interbank offered rate on the Japanese yen, Bloomberg said. The three are set to appear on April 30 at Southwark Crown Court along with Hayes, who was first charged in the global probe, and former RP Martin Holdings Ltd brokers, James Gilmour and Terry Farr.

The UK Serious Fraud Office, who is prosecuting the case, published the latest details in the case against the three ex-ICAP brokers. SFO said that the three had manipulated Libor to give Hayes' trades an advantage.

"(The men) dishonestly agreed to procure or make submissions of rates by panel banks in the yen Libor setting process which were false or misleading (and) deliberately disregarded the proper basis for the submission of those rates," the SFO added.

England-based Wilkinson and Goodman has yet to enter their pleas in the case, and neither does New Zealand-based Read. The lawyers for the two UK-based brokers declined to comment after the bail hearing today. Goodman's lawyer, David Jones, insisted last month that his client is innocent.

Bloomberg said prosecutors and regulators all over the world have launched their investigations on how bankers and derivatives traders who submit interest-rate data managed to collude to ensure the benchmarks they are manipulating on would benefit their own trades. The Libor manipulation could affect over $300 trillion of loans, financial products and contracts that are linked to Libor. A total of $6 billion in fines have been issued against financial institutions, with ICAP the first one who was fined $88 million in penalty by both US and UK authorities, the news agency added.

Tags

ICAP, UBS AG, Citigroup Inc, London interbank offered rate, Libor manipulation scandal, UK Serious Fraud Office

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