Libor jury acquits six brokers in SFO trial

Six former ICAP, Tullet Prebon and RP Martin brokers have been acquitted of rigging the Libor benchmark rate.

Six brokers, who went by nicknames such as 'Big Nose', 'Lord Libor' and 'Sarge', were accused by the Serious Fraud Office of conspiring with convicted ex UBS and Citigroup trader Tom Hayes of manipulating the benchmark interest rate.

After a 15-week trial the jury at Southwark crown court acquitted five of the brokers - ex ICAP brokers Colin Goodman and Danny Wilkinson, former RP Martin brokers Terry Farr and James Gilmour and former Tullett Prebon broker Noel Cryan.

The sixth broker, former ICAP man Darrell Read, was found not guilty of one count of conspiring to defraud, but was awaiting the jury's deliberations on another count against him.

Last August, Hayes was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison, though the sentence was subsequently cut to 11 years.

Barristers for the SFO alleged the six, who all counted Hayes as one of their biggest clients because of the volume of trading he conducted, passed along requests between traders for the level to set Libor on a given day.