Ex-bankers jailed for rigging rates have convictions quashed

The Court of Appeal has quashed the convictions of five former Barclays traders in a case linked to the Libor rate-setting scandal. Each had been found guilty of one charge of conspiracy to defraud over alleged efforts to influence benchmark rates.

The traders are Jay Merchant, Jonathan Mathew, Stylianos Contogoulas Pabon, Alex Pabon and Peter Johnson Moryoussef. Merchant, Mathew, Pabon and Bermingham served prison terms; Moryoussef was sentenced in 2018 but remained in France after it declined to extradite him to the UK.

The appeal follows last year’s overturning of convictions for two other former City traders, which opened the way for further challenges. Former UBS trader Tom Hayes also had his conviction overturned at the Supreme Court in 2025, after a decade-long legal battle.

The Libor scandal came to light in 2012. Banks had misrepresented their positions while the lending benchmark was being set, helping raise profits and conceal financial problems during the crisis.

Mathew said the ordeal had weighed on him for a decade and that correcting his record mattered to him and his children. Lord Justice Edis said the court would publish its full reasons later on Wednesday.