INCORRECT JURY DIRECTIONS
https://standard.co.uk/city-traders-tom-hayes-supreme-court-appeal-win
https://theguardian.com/city-trader-conviction-for-libor-rigging-is-overturned
City trader Tom Hayes’s conviction for Libor rigging is overturned over incorrect directions given to jury
by Kalyeena Makortoff / 23 Jul 2025
“Tom Hayes, the first banker jailed over the Libor interest rate-rigging scandal in 2015, has cleared his name after the UK’s supreme court overturned a decade-old conviction against the former UBS and Citigroup trader. A panel of five justices, led by Lord Reed, concluded on Wednesday that the judge in Hayes’s original hearing 10 years ago had given “inaccurate and unfair” instructions to the jury that found him guilty on several charges of conspiracy to defraud. This meant the former banker was ultimately “deprived” of a fair trial.
The judges stopped short of fully exonerating Hayes, saying there was “ample evidence” that could have led a jury, if properly directed, to find him guilty. “But the jury was not properly directed,” the ruling explained, adding: “The convictions are therefore unsafe and cannot stand.” The judgment, which follows a three-day hearing in March, ends a long-running legal battle for the 45-year-old and could lead to several other convictions being quashed in the UK.
The ruling also marks a blow for the Serious Fraud Office, which brought the original charges. It said it would not be seeking a retrial. Outside court Hayes said: “I had 10 years to try and figure out what I was going to say at this moment … It feels very surreal, a little bit like my conviction, like it’s not really happening to me. “It’s a day that I dreamt about and hoped for whilst I was lying in prison cells.” He added: “I’m just very grateful to all the justices who heard the appeal. I’m very grateful to all the people who supported me, the strangers and friends alike and … a legal team who’ve worked long hours for little money at times when other people wouldn’t.”
“The justices said the history of the cases of Hayes and Palombo
‘raises concerns about the effectiveness of the criminal appeal
system in England and Wales in confronting legal error’.”
When asked whether he would seek financial compensation, Hayes told the Guardian: “I need to talk to my legal team about what civil remedies I might have, whether some money they took from me I might get back. But really it’s not about money today … family and friends, your liberty and your health – those are the things that are really important.” The court also quashed the conviction of the former Barclays trader Carlo Palombo, who was sentenced to four years in prison in 2019 for rigging Euribor – the euro version of Libor. It stated that Palombo’s original case was also compromised as a result of directions by the judge.
Hayes was still on probation after spending five and a half years of an 11-year term in prison, having been accused of being a ringleader in a vast conspiracy to fix the now-defunct London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) – which was used to price trillions of pounds worth of financial products – between 2006 and 2010. The wider scandal, which erupted in 2012, led to fines of almost $10bn (£7.4bn) for a dozen banks and brokerages. Hayes maintained his innocence and claimed during his original trial that he was taking part in an “industry-wide” practice, accusing regulators of making him a scapegoat. He was charged by both British and US prosecutors in 2015 and convicted and jailed in the UK that year. He was released from prison in January 2021. Hayes returned to the UK courts last year to challenge his conviction.
In 2022 US judges had overturned the convictions of two former Deutsche Bank traders, Matthew Connolly and Gavin Black, for their part in an alleged Libor-rigging scheme. That decision led to all charges against Hayes being dropped in the US. The Hayes case was subsequently referred to the court of appeal in 2023 by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, an independent body that investigates potential miscarriages of justice. The CCRC said there was a “real possibility” that the court of appeal would overturn Hayes’s conviction. However, the court upheld the guilty verdict last year, saying there was “indisputable documentary evidence” that he had sought to move Libor and that he had made “frank admissions of dishonesty”.
Hayes then appealed to the supreme court, which on Wednesday decided that he had been denied a fair trial in 2015. In the case of Palombo, the court said his case was also compromised as a result of judge’s directions to the jury: “Thus, his conviction also cannot stand.” The justices said the history of the two cases, which both centred on charges of conspiracy to defraud, “raises concerns about the effectiveness of the criminal appeal system in England and Wales in confronting legal error”. A Serious Fraud Office spokesperson said: “We have considered this judgment and the full circumstances carefully and determined it would not be in the public interest for us to seek a retrial.”
CONVICTIONS QUASHED
https://bbc.com/ex-bankers-rigging-rates-convictions-quashed
https://theguardian.com/barclays-traders-rigging–convictions-quashed-libor
Ex-Barclays traders jailed for rigging interest rates have convictions quashed
by Joanna Partridge / 7 Oct 2026
“Five more former traders who were jailed for rigging interest rates have had their convictions quashed by the court of appeal in London, after a long battle to clear their names. The court overturned the convictions of Jay Vijay Merchant, Jonathan Mathew, Philippe Moryoussef, Alex Pabon and Colin Bermingham – all of whom worked at Barclays. Their acquittals on Wednesday came just over a year after the UK supreme court overturned a decade-old ruling against the former UBS and Citigroup trader Tom Hayes.
The five former Barclays traders were jailed between 2016 and 2019 on charges of manipulating the euro interbank offered rate (Euribor) or the now-defunct London interbank offered rate (Libor). The Euribor and Libor rates affected the value of ordinary people’s pensions, mortgages and savings, as well as hundreds of trillions of pounds and euros worth of financial products around the world. Nine bankers accused of rigging the rates were given fraud convictions.
“Jay Merchant leaves Southwark crown court in London during his trial in 2016.”
The five former Barclays traders applied to clear their names after Hayes, the first banker jailed for Libor-rigging in 2015, had his name cleared. Carlo Palombo, a former Barclays trader sentenced to four years in prison in 2019 for rigging Euribor, also had his conviction quashed on the same day in July 2025. The supreme court overturned the convictions of Hayes and Palombo after finding faults in the original trials, ruling that had ultimately “deprived” them of a fair trial. They found trial judges had given “inaccurate and unfair” instructions to the juries that found the former traders guilty. The cases of the American Pabon; Calcutta-born Merchant; Britons Bermingham and Mathew; and French national Moryoussef were referred back to the court of appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission in January.
“Tom Hayes (right) and Carlo Palombo outside the supreme
court in London after their convictions were quashed.”
The move came after the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which brought the original charges against the men, found their convictions “may be considered unsafe” after the supreme court ruling in the cases of Hayes and Palombo. The SFO did not contest the appeals. Mathew said: “For the last 10 years, the stain of a criminal conviction has been a burden I have carried every minute of every day.” He added: “Having this conviction quashed is not simply about correcting the record, it’s about finally having validation that this is an injustice that never should have happened.”
“Colin Bermingham (third from left) and Alex Pabon (fourth from right) with supporters including David Davis MP outside the Royal Courts of Justice.”
In a statement, Pabon, thanked Hayes, who he said “refused to let it go and pushed this through for all of us”. Tom Bushnell, a partner at the law firm Hickman & Rose, which represented Merchant, Mathew and Moryoussef, said: “In Jay Merchant and Jon Mathew’s case, it took over a decade for this wrong to be righted. In Philippe Moryoussef’s case, over eight years. “Their lives have been turned upside down as a result. All involved in the criminal justice system should now ask themselves not only how this error came to be made and repeated, but also why it took so long to correct.”
Wednesday’s ruling marks a further blow for the SFO, with the unravelling of more of its high-profile prosecutions. It said: “After carefully considering this judgment and the full circumstances, we do not oppose the appeals of five individuals convicted by juries in relation to Libor and Euribor.” The agency reiterated in a statement that the supreme court had “found that there was ample evidence on which a properly directed jury could have convicted Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo”. Jason Williams, the head of division at the SFO, added that it was not deemed in the public interest to seek retrials of Hayes and Palombo. A further attempted appeal by Christian Bittar, a former Deutsche Bank trader who pleaded guilty in 2018, is expected to be heard on Friday. His case is the only one being contested by the SFO, which argues his conviction was safe.”
PREVIOUSLY
CORRUPTION SERVICES
https://spectrevision.net/2026/02/25/corruption-services/
BANKERS IMMUNITY
https://spectrevision.net/2015/05/28/bankers-immunity/
the LONDON GOLD FIX
https://spectrevision.net/2013/11/29/the-london-gold-fix/
