Former Barclays Libor Traders Appeal Jail Sentences

Three former Barclays traders sentenced for up to 6 1/2 years over their roles in manipulating the Libor interest-rate benchmark are appealing their convictions.

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Jonathan Mathew, Jay Merchant, and Alex Pabon were recently found guilty of conspiring to rig the London interbank offered rate (Libor), with other Barclays employees between 1 June, 2005, and 31 August, 2007, four years after Barclays paid out $385 million in fines for their part in fixing the benchmark rate.

Appeals

The trio have all filed appeals against their convictions in recent weeks and Merchant is also appealing his prison sentence. Mathew was given a sentence of 4 years and Pabon was sentenced to 2 years and 9 months. Another ex-trader, Peter Johnson, the main Libor submitter, pleaded guilty to manipulating the rate in October 2014 and received a 4 year sentence.

Mathew is appealing his conviction on the basis that Johnson’s guilty plea should not have gone before the jury because, according to his lawyer, it "manifestly will have changed the jury’s opinion".

The news comes over a year after former UBS Group AG trader,Tom Hayes became the first person to be sentenced over Libor-rigging. On appeal, his initial 14 year sentence was reduced to 11 years but his conviction was upheld.