Ex-UBS Trader Hayes Loses Bid to Appeal Libor-Rigging Case
Libor Trader Tom Hayes Loses Bid to Appeal Criminal Conviction
(Bloomberg) -- Tom Hayes, the former UBS Group AG and Citigroup Inc. trader who became the face of the sprawling Libor scandal, has lost his bid to appeal his U.K. criminal conviction.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission, which probes suspected miscarriages of justice, rejected his request for a referral to the Court of Appeal almost five years after Hayes argued that his conviction and 11-year sentence should be quashed. He’d cited the lack of consideration at trial for his Asperger syndrome as well as fresh evidence that wasn’t presented to the jury.
“Following a detailed and thorough review of Mr. Hayes’s 2015 convictions for conspiracy to defraud, the CCRC has reached a provisional decision not to refer his case to the Court of Appeal,” a spokesperson for the commission said by email on Tuesday.
Hayes, 42, can now respond to the commission’s provisional view and make any further arguments before a final decision is taken, the commission said. Hayes has until February to make further submissions, which he said he will do.
The former trader was the most high-profile conviction in a crackdown on the rigging of the London interbank offered rate in the wake of the financial crisis a decade ago.
He was freed from prison in January after serving half his sentence. At his trial, Hayes was described by prosecutors as the “ringmaster” of a global network of traders and brokers who manipulated Libor, while some saw him as the fall guy for what had been until then a common practice at the world’s biggest banks.
“We are disappointed and surprised by this decision, which is based on the false admissions given during interviews to the SFO in order to avoid extradition to the U.S.,” Hayes said by email, referring to the U.K. Serious Fraud Office. “Had I not made such false admissions, I would not be in this invidious position.”
He added, “I will continue to fight to clear my name.”
Hayes was convicted following a two-month London trial where he was found guilty of working with traders and brokers to game Libor to help his own trading positions. He had been a star performer at UBS in Tokyo from 2006 until 2009, when he joined Citigroup. He was dismissed by the American bank less than a year later as the Libor scandal began to widen.
The SFO closed its seven-year rate-rigging investigation in 2019 after securing three guilty verdicts and a guilty plea against bankers at Barclays Plc. The prosecutor’s results were mixed, however, with eight people being acquitted in various Libor-related cases. Only a handful of other bank employees have faced criminal charges globally and several of Hayes’s alleged co-conspirators were acquitted.
Karen Todner, Hayes’s lawyer, said she was “hugely disappointed by the decision and will continue to fight this miscarriage of justice.”
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