This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jun/03/former-ubs-investment-bank-co-chief-present-libor-rigging-meeting

The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
Former UBS investment bank co-chief 'present during Libor-rigging talks' Former UBS investment bank co-chief 'present during Libor-rigging talks'
(about 4 hours later)
The former co-chief executive of UBS’s investment bank attended a meeting at the Swiss bank when plans to manipulate Libor were discussed, Southwark crown court in London has heard. The boss of one of the world’s largest stock markets was told about attempts to rig Libor when he was co-chief executive of the Swiss investment bank UBS.
Tom Hayes, the trader accused of trying to rig a key interest rate behind trillions of dollars in financial deals, told prosecutors that Carsten Kengeter, now chief executive of Deutsche Börse, was present as he discussed manipulating the rate during a meeting of UBS executives in Tokyo. Carsten Kengeter, now chief executive of Deutsche Börse which operates the Frankfurt stock exchange, attended a meeting where plans to manipulate the markets were discussed, according to evidence given to the Serious Fraud Office by Tom Hayes, the trader accused of attempting to rig a key interest rate behind trillions of dollars in financial deals.
Southwark crown court heard on Wednesday how the 35-year-old trader told prosecutors that Kengeter was present along with other senior UBS executives at a meeting in Tokyo, where Hayes discussed how he was going to influence submitters setting the rate.
“It was too widespread and open that people could be unaware,” Hayes told the Serious Fraud Office in an interview after his arrest in 2012. “It was so blatant.”“It was too widespread and open that people could be unaware,” Hayes told the Serious Fraud Office in an interview after his arrest in 2012. “It was so blatant.”
In October, Kengeter was named chief executive of Deutsche Börse, which operates the Frankfurt stock exchange. Kengeter was named chief executive of Deutsche Börse in October last year.
The evidence emerged on Wednesday, day six of Hayes’ trial, where he stands accused of eight counts of conspiracy to defraud between 2006 and 2010, which he denies. He has been diagnosed with mild Asperger syndrome and has been sitting in the well of the court, rather than in the dock. The evidence emerged on day six of Hayes’ trial, where he stands accused of eight counts of conspiracy to defraud between 2006 and 2010, which he denies. He added that a report produced by the Japan Financial Services Authority into the manipulation of Yen Libor was a “whitewash”, with UBS feeding the JFSA “rubbish”.
The comments were made during Hayes’ “scoping interviews” with Serious Fraud Office investigators, which were a precursor to him signing a formal cooperation agreement with the agency in March 2013 that would have made him eligible for a reduction in his sentence. During his questioning, the trader admitted acting dishonestly.
However, the jury was told how Hayes, who earned more than £1m during his three years at UBS and then £3.5m in nine months at rival Citigroup, changed his legal team from Fulcrum Chambers to Garstangs Burrows Bussin in August 2013, after applying for legal aid. His new lawyers then wrote to the SFO in October 2013, saying their client would be pleading not guilty and “formally withdrawing from the [cooperation] process”.
The court also heard more detail on the known tensions between the SFO and its US counterpart, the Department of Justice, over which agency would prosecute Hayes.
Minutes of meetings between Fulcrum Chambers and the SFO record how “word had reached [Hayes’ then barrister Lydia Jonson] that the DoJ are very angry with the SFO for taking [Hayes] away from them.” Meanwhile, SFO case manager Stuart Alford noted in an email in April 2013, that the SFO’s desire to see British nationals tried in the UK courts for Libor offences “clearly presented some issues in our relationship with the DoJ, as they have indicted [Hayes] after an extensive investigation”.
The SFO had initially rejected launching an investigation into the case in 2011.
The prosecution alleges Hayes was motivated by greed and acted as the “ringmaster” in an enormous fraud to rig the benchmark Libor interest rate, allowing him to make increased profits from his trading. He has said that he was merely part of an industry-wide practice.
Hayes has been diagnosed with mild Asperger syndrome and has been sitting in the well of the court, rather than in the dock.
The trial continues.The trial continues.