Ex-bankers jailed for rigging rates have convictions quashed

Five former Barclays traders convicted for rigging key financial interest rates have seen their convictions overturned by the Court of Appeal, according to prosecutors. Jay Merchant, Jonathan Mathew, Philippe Moryoussef, Alex Pabon, and Colin Bermingham were all found guilty of manipulating the Libor and Euribor interest rate mechanisms during the 2008 financial crisis.

However, the recent ruling leaves only two traders, Christian Bittar from Deutsche Bank and Peter Johnson from Barclays, still facing convictions for the same offense. The traders were perceived as emblematic of banker greed, garnering public outrage and legal backlash during the aftermath of the financial crisis. Mathew, in particular, expressed relief at the overturning of his conviction, stating that it was a burden he had carried for the past decade, and that this development would provide validation that his conviction was unjustified.

The overturning of these convictions has been facilitated by previous legal victories by other former City traders, such as Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, who won their appeals and paved the way for subsequent challenges to related convictions.