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US: Ex-Deutsche traders want Libor case to focus on Bank not them

By  |  October 8, 2018

According to Bloomberg, former Deutsche Bank traders Matthew Connolly and Gavin Black want to shift the focus to Deutsche Bank at their trial on allegations they conspired to rig the LIBOR benchmark.

The lawyers say the bank has been subject to so many US inquiries, for manipulating mortgage securities, interest-rate indexes, and precious-metals—not to mention laundering cash for Russian oligarchs—that it’s working with prosecutors to cast unfair blame on Connolly and Black for rigging the London interbank offered rate, Bloomberg reported.

“This is not the only investigation they are involved in,” Black’s attorney, Seth Levine, told US District Judge Colleen McMahon earlier this week when jurors weren’t present. “I think that there are lots of issues about the nature of what their relationship is with the Department of Justice right now.”

Connolly and Black are accused of conspiring to manipulate the benchmark, which is based on the average borrowing rate of the world’s biggest banks and used to value trillions of dollars in financial products. Prosecutors say the two sought to influence the data the bank submitted to benefit trading positions and boost the company’s profit and their own bonuses.
Full Content: Bloomberg
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