Criminal Commission consider report alleging Tom Hayes was wrongfully convicted for Libor rigging
An academic paper that claims Tom Hayes was wrongfully convicted for rigging Libor interest rates is under review by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).
It’s the latest development in an ongoing inquiry by the CCRC – the body responsible for investigating suspected miscarriages of justice – into the former trader’s case.
The CCRC confirmed it was reviewing the academic paper that claimed former trader Hayes was in fact innocent, and said a decision was not likely to be reached before September.
“The academic report has been received and is being considered,” a spokesperson for the CCRC told City A.M.
It comes as the CCRC reaches the final stage of its review into Hayes’ case and decides whether to elevate it to the Court of Appeal.
The former UBS trader was found guilty of manipulating Libor in 2015, making him the first trader convicted by jury of rigging Libor global interest rates, following an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.
Hayes served half of his 11-year sentence in custody and was rel at the end of January.
Libor is an interest rate benchmark used to price contracts from derivatives and mortgages to company loans and credit cards worth trillions of dollars globally.
The rate became the subject of a global scandal after it emerged traders had been manipulating Libor for a profit, with banks fined billions of dollars for rigging the rates.
Libor is in the process of being scrapped, and lenders will no longer be able to offer customers products using the rate from the end of 2021.