A financial broker nicknamed "Big Nose" was cleared Thursday of conspiring with a convicted currency trader to fix the Libor lending rate, to cheers and applause in a London court. Darrell Read, 50, from Wellington, New Zealand, the sixth and final broker in the case, was cleared of all charges. The jury had on Wednesday found the other five not guilty of rigging the benchmark interbank lending rate, a key reference for financial products globally, after a trial that began more than 16 weeks ago.
Read, who worked at brokers firm ICAP, and the other five were charged with conspiracy to defraud by trying to manipulate the Libor linked to the Japanese yen. The jury heard how they had nicknames like "Big Nose" and "Lord Libor". Former broker Noel Cryan, who was also cleared, said: "Obviously we are really relieved for everyone but I think there are questions which need to be addressed in relation to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO)," which brought the case.
"It feels like they were trying to go after the little guys and to make an example of us." They were accused of helping convicted currency trader Tom Hayes manipulate the Libor, the average interest rate at which banks can borrow unsecured funds from one another in the London market.
The rate underpins hundreds of trillions of dollars of contracts, from mortgages to corporate lending. SFO director David Green said: "The key issue in this trial was whether these defendants were party to a dishonest agreement with Tom Hayes. "By their verdicts the jury have said that they could not be sure that this was the case. "Nobody could sensibly suggest that these charges should not have been brought and considered by a jury."
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