The UK Court of Appeal today ruled to reduce the prison sentence of former UBS and Citi trader Tom Hayes, convicted of LIBOR manipulation. The sentence was cut from 14 years to 11 years.
The new ruling, in response to Mr Hayes’ appeal to the previously issued sentence, took into account all the circumstances, including the appelant’s age, his non-managerial position in the two banks when he committed the offenses, and his mild Asperger’s condition. Considering all factors, the judge ruled that the overall sentence was longer than was necessary to punish the appellant and to deter others.
The judgement, however, said that:
The court must make clear to all in the financial and other markets in the City of London that conduct of this type, involving fraudulent manipulation of the markets, will result in severe sentences of considerable length which, depending on the circumstances, may be significantly greater than the present total sentence.
In August this year, Tom Hayes was convicted on eight counts of conspiracy to defraud in relation to the manipulation of the Japanese Yen London Interbank Offered Rate (“Yen LIBOR”).
The prosecution case was that, between 2006 and 2010, Mr Hayes together with others, agreed to manipulate Yen LIBOR in order to advance his own trading interests, the profits of the bank for which he worked and indirectly the rewards which he would receive in the form of bonuses and status, to the disadvantage of the counterparties to the trades. The counts refer to the appellant’s period of employment between August 2006 and December 2009 at UBS Securities Japan Limited (“UBS Japan”) and his period of employment between December 2009 and December 2010 at Citigroup Global Markets Japan Inc. (“Citigroup Japan”).
To view the full court filing, click here.