Former bankers who rigged Libor rate to be sentenced

Four former bankers who rigged the Libor rate in a fraud involving "eye-watering" sums of money will be sentenced today.

Three former Barclays' employees were last week found guilty of conspiracy to defraud while Libor submitter Peter Johnson, 61, of Tunbridge Wells, admitted the same charge in October 2014.

A jury found Jonathan James Mathew, 35, of Shenfield, Essex, Jay Vijay Merchant, 45, and Alex Pabon, 37, who both live in the US, guilty of manipulating the US dollar Libor rate between 2005 and 2007.

The charge states that they dishonestly agreed to procure or make submissions of rates by Barclays, a panel bank, into the dollar Libor setting process which were false or misleading.

The Libor rate is used to set millions of pounds worth of financial deals, including car loans and mortgages. It is also used in complex overseas financial transactions.

To maximise profit from their trades, the convicted men rigged the US dollar Libor to put themselves at an advantage and to disadvantage the people they were dealing with.

The traders were dealing with "eye-watering" sums of money when they manipulated the rate between June 1 2005 and August 31 2007, prosecutor James Hines QC said.

During his evidence, Mathew told the court he learned the practice from Johnson and thought he was doing nothing wrong.

Judge Anthony Leonard will sentence the men at Southwark Crown Court later.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation into the alleged fixing of Libor began in 2012.

British and US regulators fined Barclays £290 million over the scandal in 2012.