Two more former derivatives traders have been sentenced to jail in connection with the manipulation of the LIBOR interest rate benchmark, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Thursday.
The traders, Anthony Allen, 44, and Anthony Conti, 46, both worked in the London, U.K. office of Rabobank, a Dutch firm, where Allen was the bank’s global head of liquidity and finance and Conti was a senior trader.
Back in November 2015, a U.S. federal jury convicted the pair after a four-week trial. Allen was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud and 18 counts of wire fraud. Conti was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud and eight counts of wire fraud.
Allen was sentenced on Thursday to 24 months in prison, and Conti was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison.
The evidence presented at trial “showed that the defendants actively participated in a scheme to rig the U.S. dollar and yen LIBORs to benefit their own trading positions, as well as those of their colleagues,” U.S. authorities say in a statement.
“Allen and Conti were entrusted to set LIBOR, a critically important interest rate benchmark,” says Leslie Caldwell, U.S. assistant attorney general, in a statement. “Their scheme to manipulate this rate to increase their bank’s profits undermined the integrity of our financial markets and the public’s confidence in the fairness of the financial system.”
Two other former Rabobank employees have also been convicted in connection with the case, and two others are still facing charges and are awaiting trial. Rabobank entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice department in 2013, and agreed to pay a US$325 million penalty to resolve allegations against the firm itself.