Two former Rabobank traders got U.S. prison terms on Thursday. This comes after being convicted in the first U.S. trial arising from a global enquiry into manipulation of Libor, which is the leading benchmark for pricing financial transactions.
According to Reuters, London interbank offered rate, also known as Libor, is a short-term rate financial institutions that charge each other for loans that is deliberated based on submissions by a group of banks. Hundreds of trillions of dollars in short-term interest rates, swaps, and other financial products are attached to Libor.
Anthony Allen and Anthony Conti were the first defendants to face the U.S. trial following global probe on whether banks submit artificial rate estimates to increase profits on trading derivatives connected to Libor. The outcome of the enquiries was that the U.S. and U.K. charges against 32 individuals and approximately $9 billion in regulatory agreements with financial institutions.
CNBC reported that prosecutors alleged the two Rabobank traders of joining in a conspiracy at Rabobank from the year 2006 up to 2011. This was to put together Libor rates in order to gain an unfair advantage trading derivatives linked to the rate.
In October 2013, Rabobank reached a $1 billion agreement to resolve the U.S. and U.K. investigations. The U.S. Department of Justice has fined five other Rabobank staffs and three out of the five have pleaded guilty.
Allen, Rabobank's former global head of liquidity and finance, was sentenced by the U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in New York to two years imprisonment. Anthony Conti, a former senior trader, was also sentenced up to one year in prison, as mentioned in LONDON SOUTH EAST.
In November, a federal jury found out that the British citizens were guilty on the conspiracy and wire fraud charges. Prosecutors sated that the men manipulated the U.S. dollar and yen Libor rates just so Rabobank's trading positions would gain benefit.
Meanwhile, both Allen and Conti have denied committing any wrongdoing. But the two are still expected to appeal their convictions regarding the allegations.
