Former Libor trader has prison term cut after Asperger's diagnosis

Former trader Tom Hayes, who was jailed in the UK for conspiracy to rig Libor rates, had his sentence cut to 11 years from 14 on Monday.

The Court of Appeal considered mitigating factors such as his Asperger’s syndrome diagnosis in reducing the sentence. The 36-year-old was diagnosed with the condition shortly before his 10-week trial began in May.

The judges said they believed the overall sentence was longer than was necessary to punish Hayes but wanted to make it clear to others that the fraudulent manipulation of the markets will result in severe sentences of “considerable length”.

Hayes was found guilty in August of eight counts of conspiracy to defraud. The former Tokyo-based trader led a four-year scam with others to fix the London interbank offered rate, according to prosecutors. The LIBOR serves as a benchmark for rates on about $450 trillion (£301.7 trn) of financial contracts worldwide.