Jury out in trial of city trader

The jury in the London trial of former trader, Tom Hayes, who is charged with eight counts of conspiracy to defraud, by manipulating global Libor interest rates, retired yesterday to consider its verdict, after hearing nine weeks of evidence.

Mr Hayes, a 35-year-old former UBS and Citigroup yen derivatives trader, based in Tokyo, pleaded not guilty to charges he conspired to rig the London interbank offered rate (Libor), a benchmark for $450tn of financial contracts and loans worldwide, between 2006 and 2010.

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office alleges he set up a network of brokers and traders that spanned 10 of the world’s most powerful financial institutions, cajoling and, at times, bribing them to help rig rates — designed to reflect the cost of inter-bank borrowing — for profit.

Mr Hayes, who was diagnosed with mild Asperger’s Syndrome just before his trial began, has said he was transparent about trying to influence rates and that his managers were aware of, and condoned, methods that were common industry practice.

He denied dishonesty, said he had received no training, that Libor was, at the time, unregulated, that his requests for higher or lower rates fell within a “permissible” range, and that he left a trail of emails and computer chats because he did not think he was doing anything wrong.

During 82 hours of interviews with SFO investigators, in the months following his arrest in December, 2012, Mr Hayes admitted dishonesty. But he told the court this month he only did so to ensure he would be charged in Britain and avoid extradition to the US, where he also faces fraud-related charges. He subsequently withdrew from a co-operation agreement with the SFO and, in December, 2013, pleaded not guilty.

Summing up the case to the 12 jurors at Southwark Crown Court, Judge Jeremy Cooke told them the central issue they had to decide was whether Mr Hayes had acted dishonestly “by the standards of reasonable, honest members of society”.

Reuters