Two Former Rabobank Employees Charged for Libor Rates Manipulation

Former traders at Rabobank have been charged by the US Department of Justice for their role in the manipulation of Libor rates. The legal division made an announcement today that two British individuals were charged; the Order also stated that two other persons from Japan and Australia were found guilty. The latest episode of charges highlights the seriousness of the Libor manipulation case.

Details in the notification state that a federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York returned a superseding indictment charging Anthony Allen, 43, of Hertsfordshire, England; and Anthony Conti, 45, of Essex, England, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud and with substantive counts of wire fraud for their participation in a scheme to manipulate the USD and Yen LIBOR rate.

Assistant Attorney General Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, commented in a statement: “Today, we have charged two more members of the financial industry with influencing Dollar LIBOR and Yen LIBOR to gain an illegal advantage in the market, unfairly benefitting their own trading positions in financial derivatives.

LIBOR is a key benchmark interest rate that is relied upon to be free of bias and self-dealing, but the conduct of these traders was as galling as it was greedy. Today’s charges are just the latest installment in the Justice Department’s industry-wide investigation of financial institutions and individuals who manipulated global financial rates.”

Additionally, today’s case saw charges against Tetsuya Motomura, 42, of Tokyo, Japan, and Paul Thompson, 48, of Dalkeith, Australia. The two were previously charged with their former colleague, Paul Robson, an ex-Rabobank LIBOR submitter. In addition to adding as defendants Allen and Conti, the superseding indictment alleges a broader conspiracy to manipulate both the USD LIBOR and the Yen LIBOR.

Financial markets have been shunned by the Libor fiasco that has caused uproar among government officials. The rates manipulation probes have seen a number of investigation by banks and regulators.