Legal experts call for legislative change to aid SFO investigations

Regulatory and criminal investigations experts at Irwin Mitchell have called for legislative change to aid the SFO investigations following the acquittal of six Libor traders. 

The six ex-brokers accused were acquitted of helping Tom Hayes, who is currently serving 11 years in prison for conspiracy to defraud, after becoming the first individual to be found guilty of rigging the interbank lending rate. 

Libor is used as the basis for hundreds of trillions of dollars of loans and transactions around the world from complex derivatives to mortgages. 

It is a benchmark that indicates the interest rate that banks charge when lending to each other. 

During the four month trial at London's Southwark Crown Court, the six traders were accused of helping Hayes by interfering with the rate in order to boost his own earnings. The men worked for the financial firms Icap, Tullett Prebon and RP Martin. 

Five defendants Noel Cryan, 49, of Chislehurst, Danny Wilkinson, 48, of Hornchurch, Colin Goodman, 53, of Epsom, James Gilmour, 50 of Benfleet, and Terry Farr, 44, of Southend-on-Sea were all found not guilty on Wednesday. 

Darrell Read, 50, of Wellington, New Zealand was found not guilty of two charges today. 

David Green, director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), said: “The key issue in this trial was whether these defendants were party to a dishonest agreement with Tom Hayes. By their verdicts the jury have said that they could not be sure that this was the case. Nobody could sensibly suggest that these charges should not have been brought and considered by a jury.”