Tom Hayes Libor Rigging Appeal on Conviction Fails

2 January 2016

Tom Hayes, a former trader, who was convicted in August 2015 of conspiracy to rig global Libor rates, has failed to have his conviction overturned. He was however, successful in having his 14 year sentence reduced to 11 years.

Hayes, in order to avoid extradition to the U.S., gave full comment interviews to the SFO. The case rested in part on these interviews where Hayes was demonstrated to have mislead the SFO.

During the trial, Hayes attempted to explain away his dishonesty and the trial judge consequently refused to give Hayes credit for cooperating with the SFO. The Court of Appeal agreed with this approach, but held that the sentence of 14 years was longer than needed to act as a deterrent and substituted it with a sentence of 11 years.

The full judgment can be read here.