Former trader first to be prosecuted over Libor ‘fixing’

The former trader on trial for allegedly conspiring to rig benchmark interest rates, has admitted to being motivated by greed and was fired by US bank Citigroup in 2010, the prosecution told a London court yesterday.

Tom Hayes is the first person to be prosecuted over manipulation of the London interbank offered rate (Libor) after a seven-year, global inquiry that has seen banks and brokerages pay around $9bn (€8.27bn) in fines and sparked an overhaul of how financial benchmarks such as Libor are policed.

Opening the case for the prosecuting Serious Fraud Office (SFO), senior lawyer Mukul Chawla told the court that Mr Hayes, 35, was at the epicentre of a conspiracy to rig Libor interest rates and admitted during 82 hours of interviews with prosecutors that he had put his trading book and pay above other concerns.