Appearing at their trial in London today, Daniel Wilkinson, Colin Goodman and Darrell Read entered their pleas to the court. The trio of former ICAP Plc brokers pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring with traders at banks to manipulate Japanese yen Libor -benchmark interest rates.
In a separate civil proceeding, the company at the time employing Wilkinson, Goodman and Read, ICAP plc, paid close to $90 million to settle with UK and US regulators.
In an internal email communication, Goodman complained to the Director of ICAP’s Japanese yen London desk, Dan Wilkinson, saying, “Life is tough enough over here without having to double guess the libors every morning and get zipper-de-do-da. How about some form of performance bonus per quarter from your b bonus pool to me for the libor service?”
He later started receiving 5,000 pounds per quarter in his bank account to allegedly continue quoting Japanese yen LIBOR rates benefiting the positions of a certain UBS trader. According to prosecutors, a one basis point move in the interest rate could be benefiting the UBS trader to the tune of $3 million.
Traders were referring to banks as “sheep” for following their lead in setting the benchmark rates.
The UK Serious Fraud Office is prosecuting the trio in the UK, while the US Department of Justice has also filed a fraud case against Wilkinson, Goodman and Read.
