Libor-rigging trader 'could lose seven-bed house' in confiscation hearing

A former City trader could be forced to give up his seven-bedroom family home after cashing in on £2.5 million bonuses by rigging Libor rates.

Tom Hayes was jailed for 14 years, reduced to 11 on appeal, for his part in the manipulation of the benchmark interest rates.

The 36-year-old, of Fleet, Hampshire, was convicted after trial last year of eight counts of conspiracy to defraud from 2006 to 2010, when he worked for UBS and Citigroup.

Hayes could be facing a bill of millions of pounds, including his £1.7 million house in Woldingham, Surrey, a confiscation hearing at the Old Bailey was told.

Michael Parroy QC, representing the Serious Fraud Office, said Hayes and his wife Sarah Tighe carried out "various manoeuvres" on the house to transfer it from joint ownership into her name.

The property was remortgaged for around £350,000 after his arrest in December 2011.

In the application it stated the loan was for "garden refurbishment" but the prosecution claim it was to finance Hayes's legal fees.

"It would appear that the actual purpose of the loan was to deal with Mr Hayes's legal fees but instead of that going down (on the form), which might have raised considerable concerns to the lender, what seems to have been done is to use that description," Mr Parroy added.

He said "the whole" of the money for the property, which the couple bought in 2011, came from Hayes's earnings in Japan.

His six-figure bonuses at UBS and "golden hello" when he moved to Citigroup were boosted by his performance, which was "tainted by the manipulation of Libor", he added.

"If you total up the bonuses, ignoring the salary, it comes to £2,451,396," he told the court.

"Those are the netted bonuses/incentive figures from both UBS and Citigroup."

"What Mr Hayes was doing in his manipulation of Libor was to give himself an edge, an advantage in the transactions he was carrying out," he added.

"The result of that was effectively he put himself in a position where he was perceived to be the top man in a relatively small pond of the Yen Libor traders."

The London interbank offered rate - or Libor - is a short-term rate banks charge each other for loans.

Hayes, who is on the autistic spectrum and was accompanied by an intermediary in the dock, made repeated outbursts and comments throughout the hearing.

He and Ms Tighe, who sat in court, married in 2010 and have a four-year-old son together.

The confiscation hearing continues and is due to last four days.