US: British traders are first jailed by US over Libor

Two former Rabobank traders were sentenced to prison on Thursday after being convicted in the first US trial arising from global investigations into the manipulation of Libor, the leading benchmark for pricing financial transactions.

Anthony Allen, Rabobank’s former global head of liquidity and finance, was sentenced by US District Judge Jed Rakoff in New York to two years in prison. Anthony Conti, an ex-senior trader, was sentenced to one year in prison.

A federal jury in November found the British citizens guilty on conspiracy and wire fraud charges for participating in a scheme from 2006 to 2011 to manipulate the U.S. dollar and yen Libor rates to benefit Rabobank’s trading positions.

“The offence is too serious,” Rakoff said. “You can’t go around, as in my view Mr. Allen and Mr conti did, helping rig one of the most important markets in the world and not pay the price.”

Allen, 44, and Conti, 46, deny wrongdoing, and will remain free on bail pending appeals.

Libor, or the London interbank offered rate, is a short-term rate financial institutions charge each other for loans that is calculated based on submissions by a panel of banks.

Hundreds of trillions of dollars in short-term interest rates, swaps and other financial products are pegged to Libor.

Full content: Bloomberg

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