Libor Trader Tom Hayes to Be Released From Jail in January

(Bloomberg) -- Tom Hayes, the former UBS Group AG and Citigroup Inc. trader convicted of rigging Libor, will be released from prison in January after more than five years.

Hayes was the highest-profile conviction in the Libor-fixing scandal. He was found guilty by a London jury in 2015, and is being released after serving about half of his 11-year sentence. U.K. law requires most convicted criminals to serve only about half of their sentence.

The 41-year-old will be released Jan. 29, his father, Nick Hayes, said by phone. His release means he will be subject to a number of conditions, including a restriction on travel, for the remainder of his sentence.

Hayes was the first person convicted for rigging the London interbank offered rate as part of a wide-ranging investigation by the U.K. Serious Fraud Office. Libor is a key interest-rate benchmark pegged to trillions of dollars of securities that became the subject of a global scandal after it emerged traders had been manipulating the rate for their own benefit.

Hayes was moved to Ford Open Prison last year, 65 miles south of London, after being approved for the lowest security. He was allowed out for two-day trips with his family this weekend, where he went bowling and trampolining with his son. Nick Hayes said Tom had missed six of his grandson’s nine birthdays while in prison.

“It’s been an incredibly long haul,” Nick Hayes said by phone. “We’re looking forward enormously for when he comes out. We’re just ticking off the days.”

Only a handful of other bank employees have faced criminal charges globally and several of his alleged co-conspirators were acquitted. His case is being reviewed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which probes suspected miscarriages of justice.

“I think it’s a huge shame that he is being released at the conclusion of his sentence and his case has still not been referred back to the Court of Appeal by the CCRC,” his lawyer, Karen Todner, said by phone. The CCRC has had the case for nearly three years, she said.

The SFO closed its seven-year Libor investigation last year after securing three guilty verdicts and a guilty plea against bankers at Barclays Plc.

The SFO’s results were mixed, however, with eight people being acquitted in various Libor-related cases.

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