A London jury today (August 3) found Tom Hayes, a former UBS and Citi trader, guilty on all eight charges of conspiracy to defraud, bringing to a close the first criminal case against an individual related to the Libor-rigging scandal.
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Hayes and other traders manipulated the rate to benefit trades they were carrying out.
In an audio clip he said “influencing” Libor was “commonplace” and admitted he was a “serial offender”.
Hayes, who was employed at UBS in Tokyo, before taking a job briefly at Citigroup, was convicted by Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) on eight counts of conspiracy for manipulating the rate.
“The motive was a simple one: it was greed”, he said.
A jury had deliberated over whether Hayes was the ringleader of a network of brokers and traders from various other banks whom he tapped in order to manipulate the Libor rate, an important benchmark for around $450 trillion (409.7 trillion euros) in financial contracts and consumer loans.
Described by Mr Justice Cooke as “by nature a gambler”, he was driven by a thirst for money.
A two-month trial heard Hayes, who has been on legal aid, was at the helm of a plot to rig Libor that “struck at the very integrity of that system”.
Hayes, described as “extremely intelligent”, was paid £1.3m (€1.85m) before tax in salary and bonuses by UBS between September 2006 to December 2009.
In the telephone call played to the jury Hayes asked: ‘Mate, can you do me a big favour and ask him if he will set three month Libor on the low side in the next few days.’.
He rigged the submissions made by the panel banks used to calculate that rate.
He was also accused by the judge of trying to put forward a confusing defence during his trial, and told Mr Hayes’s barrister: “I simply will not have it”. He said he wanted to gain an “extra edge”, and that his bosses had endorsed his methods.
He faces the possibility of being extradited to the US where he was charged over Libor rigging in December 2012.
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“UBS was not a party to this case”, the Zurich-based bank said in an emailed statement. “The bank has resolved this legacy matter with most authorities”.
