A U.K. jury has acquitted six traders of allegations that they participated in a conspiracy to manipulate Yen LIBOR.
The U.K. Serious Fraud Office (SFO) on Wednesday announced that five traders have been found not guilty of conspiracy to defraud by a jury at Southwark Crown Court. The verdicts follow a fourth month trial.
A sixth trader has also been acquitted of the charges against him, the SRO said in a separate announcement on Thursday.
The traders — who worked at brokerage firms, ICAP plc, RP Martin Holdings Ltd., and Tullett Prebon Group Ltd. — were charged in connection with the SFO’s investigation into benchmark manipulation, which alleged that they conspired with convicted trader Tom Hayes to influence the LIBOR setting process to benefit their own trading positions.
Hayes was was sentenced to 14 years in prison after being convicted last year. On appeal, his conviction was upheld, but his sentence was reduced to 11 years.
“The key issue in this trial was whether these defendants were party to a dishonest agreement with Tom Hayes. By their verdicts the jury have said that they could not be sure that this was the case. Nobody could sensibly suggest that these charges should not have been brought and considered by a jury,” says David Green, director of the SFO, in a statement.
Two other benchmark manipulation trials are slated for the next couple of years. The trial of traders charged with manipulating U.S. dollar LIBOR is scheduled to begin on Feb. 15 2016, and traders facing allegations of manipulating the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (EURIBOR) are to stand trial in September 2017.