London Court Quashes Rate-Rigging Conviction of Ex-Deutsche Bank Trader Bittar
The ruling follows a Supreme Court finding that judges misdirected juries on benchmark-rate cases, prompting fresh appeals and ending a decade-long legal fight.
- On Friday, former Deutsche Bank trader Christian Bittar won an appeal clearing his name, eight years after pleading guilty to conspiring to rig benchmark interest rates.
- Five former Barclays traders saw their convictions for "manipulating" Libor and Euribor quashed on Wednesday, ending a 10-year struggle following a Supreme Court ruling last year.
- These individuals were among 37 City traders and brokers prosecuted for interest rate misconduct, after judges in initial trials incorrectly ruled that any commercial influence was automatically false.
- Former Conservative cabinet minister David Davis told the BBC the exonerated traders were "the victims of a scapegoating exercise" by the government to rescue the economy after the 2000s crash.
- Evidence of state-led "rigging" under pressure from central banks was suppressed throughout trials, casting doubt on the UK Serious Fraud Office's high-profile prosecutions.
15 Articles
15 Articles
The conviction of Christian Bittar, former Deutsche Bank operator, for manipulating reference interest rates was annulled, although he was found guilty more than eight years ago. Bittar, who won the nickname of "Mr. Basis Point" (Mr. Ponto-Base) for his bets on small variations in short-term interest rates, served a 23-month sentence and was released in February 2020. The United Kingdom Court of Appeal decided that his original conviction was le…
Christian Bittar had pleaded guilty and had been in prison for almost two years. Now a London Court of Appeal has lifted the sentence for interest rate manipulation.
Former City trader's rate rigging conviction overturned
A former City trader previously convicted of rigging the Euribor interest rates has had his fraud conviction overturned. Christian Bittar, formerly a trader at Deutsche Bank, had his conviction overturned by the Court of Appeal on Friday after serving five years in prison for rigging the primary European interest rate, the Euro Interbank Offered Rate [...]
Bittar's Euribor conviction quashed in fresh blow to the SFO
The rate-rigging conviction of ex-Deutsche Bank trader Christian Bittar was overturned on Friday, despite the fact that he pleaded guilty to the allegations in 2018. The ruling results in eight of the nine rate-rigging convictions in the United Kingdom being overturned, which is yet another setback for the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). Moreover, the ruling...
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 50% of the sources are Center, 50% of the sources lean Right
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
