Recently disclosed UBS emails shed new light on alleged ‘ringmaster’ of Libor scandal Tom Hayes
Recently disclosed emails between two senior employees at UBS shed new light on the character of Tom Hayes, the convicted former Libor trader who was accused of being the “ringmaster” in the interest rate fixing scandal that rocked the banking industry.
A 2008 email exchange between two unidentified employees at the bank describe Hayes, who is autistic, as an employee who is “highly impressionable and craves support”, in language campaigners say prove he did not mastermind the fixing of the Libor rate for commercial benefit.
The correspondence, seen by City A.M., is set in the context of Hayes mulling a potential move to rival bank Goldman Sachs, which had been trying to poach him for its Tokyo office.
The two employees discuss how they might persuade Hayes to stay on. The emails say: “He would not want to feel he is being disloyal or letting us down. If he thought that would happen he prob wouldn’t leave.
“Tom enjoys the company of the people he works with and respects their opinions. It’s a big drawback for him.”
The emails also note that Hayes regularly visits the office of an unidentified colleague for advice.
Hayes, who worked at banking giants UBS and Citi, was the first person to be jailed for rigging the Libor benchmark, which determines the rate charged to banks for borrowing from each other, in 2015. He is currently serving an 11-year sentence at Nottingham’s Lowdham Grange prison after his appeals in the Court of Appeal failed.
The body prosecuting his case, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), described Hayes as “the central player” in a conspiracy to defraud those on the other side of his financial transactions. It said: “He was the ringmaster, at the very centre, telling others around him what to do, getting them to do what he wanted and in a number of cases rewarding them for their dishonest efforts.”
Read more: Tom Hayes has launched the next stage of his Libor appeal
It said he “behaved in a thoroughly dishonest and manipulative manner by repeatedly cheating those with whom he had entered into huge financial transactions” and that he was “motivated by greed”.
Hayes has consistently maintained his innocence and his case is now being reviewed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) after he failed to overturn his conviction in the Court of Appeal.
The UBS emails have emerged in light of the bank’s disclosure obligations to assist with the CCRC review. Hayes has been blocked from applying to the Supreme Court following his Court of Appeal losses, but if the CCRC were to find evidence of a miscarriage of justice it could refer Hayes’ case to the Court of Appeal for a second time.
Human Rights lawyer Karen Todner, who is representing Hayes, said: “This most recent disclosure is a further example of the poor investigation and lack of disclosure by the SFO. Tom has now spent nearly three years in prison – time he will never get back. I only hope that the CCRC will swiftly refer his case back to the Court of Appeal and the wrongful conviction overturned so he can return to his family. The whole Libor fiasco is a blight on our justice system.”
The disclosed UBS documents follow a letter by Hayes’ legal team to the Justice Committee, asking it probe the SFO as part of an inquiry it launched earlier this year into disclosure failings in criminal cases, because “the police and the Crown Prosecution Service are not the only bodies capable of producing miscarriages of justice”.
The letter accused the SFO of failing to disclose minutes of a meeting by Libor body the Foreign Exchange and Money Markets Committee (FXMMC) that showed members were of the view that banks were allowed to take into account their commercial interests.
The commercial interest element had been a key linchpin of the SFO’s case that the traders had acted dishonestly.
An SFO spokesperson said: “Mr Hayes has been to the Court of Appeal over his conviction and has been unsuccessful.
“The Criminal Cases Review Commission is also examining these matters and we stand ready to assist them.”
UBS was contacted for comment.
Read more: Lawyers slam SFO for ‘miscarriage of justice’ in Tom Hayes case