(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. Serious Fraud Office has closed its seven-year investigation into the manipulation of a key interest raid which led to the conviction of five London bankers in a scandal that became an emblem for banker greed following the financial crisis.
The SFO said in a statement Friday that there would be no more charges in relation to the London interbank offered rate, a key benchmark tied to trillions of dollars of mortgages and loans. A probe into a related benchmark, Euribor, will continue, the SFO said.
Libor had been an constant -- but largely unknown -- presence in financial markets before it became synonymous with the financial crisis. Banks and traders manipulated the rate to hide financial problems or profit on trades.
The most famous case involved Tom Hayes a former trader at UBS Group AG and Citigroup Inc. who was ultimately sentenced to 11 years in prison. His trial in 2015 laid bare the tricks and tactics bankers would use to gain even the smallest advantage in complicated transactions.
A year later, three other bankers from Barclays Plc, Jonathan Mathew, Jay Merchant and Alex Pabon, were convicted of similar rigging charges involving Libor. Another Barclays banker, Peter Johnson, had pleaded guilty in 2014 as part of the case.
The SFO’s results were mixed, however, with eight people being acquitted in various Libor-related cases.
To contact the reporter on this story: Anthony Aarons in London at aaarons@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Jonathan Browning
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