(Bloomberg) -- Two former Deutsche Bank AG traders were cleared of charges that they conspired to manipulate the Libor benchmark interest rate after a federal appeals court in Manhattan threw out their convictions.

Matthew Connolly and Gavin Black were found guilty in 2018 as part of a massive crackdown on manipulation of the benchmark interest rate. U.S. prosecutors persuaded a jury that the two pushed peers to alter the rate or submit false data to benefit their trading positions. Deutsche Bank agreed in 2015 to pay $2.5 billion and fire seven traders, including Black, to resolve probes into its role in the scandal.

Both men were sentenced to home confinement.

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