Jonathan James Mathew, Jay Vijay Merchant and Alex Julian Pabon were convicted by a jury after an 11-week trial at Southwark Crown Court, in connection with an investigation undertaken by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
During their time working for Barclays, the convicted defendants conspired with each other and other individuals to procure or make submissions of rates into the US Dollar LIBOR setting process, intending to prejudice the economic interests of others.
Merchant and Pabon were both LIBOR traders, while Mathew was a submitter. A sixth individual, Peter Charles Johnson, a senior submitter and head US Dollar cash trader, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud in October 2014. Their offences took place between June 2005 and September 2007.
The jury could not reach verdicts for two of their co-defendants, Stylianos Contogoulas and Ryan Michael Reich.
Director of the SFO David Green CB QC said: “The key issue in this case was dishonesty. By their verdicts the jury demonstrated they were sure that the conduct of three of the defendants, Jonathan Mathew, Jay Merchant and Alex Pabon was dishonest. Senior LIBOR submitter Peter Johnson accepted he had been dishonest when he pleaded guilty to the offence in October 2014.
“The trial in this country of American nationals also demonstrates the extent to which the response to LIBOR manipulation has been international and the subject of extensive cooperation between US and UK authorities.”
The convicted defendants dishonestly submitted rates specifically intended to advantage Barclays and themselves financially and to defraud those with whom they were trading.
Johnson, Mathew, Merchant and Pabon will be sentenced at a hearing on 6 to 8 July 2016.
The SFO has 14 days from today in which to consider whether to seek a retrial of Contogoulas and Reich.
These latest convictions brings the total number of sentences brought about due to SFO investigations to five.
Tom Hayes was convicted in August 2015 and is serving an 11-year prison sentence. Six other defendants were acquitted of charges against them in January 2016 in the second LIBOR trial. A total of 19 individuals have been charged so far. Requisition Notices or criminal proceedings have been issued to a further five people, who are currently resident abroad.
