Ex-Deutsche Bank trader Christian Bittar has rate-rigging conviction overturned
Former Deutsche Bank trader Christian Bittar, jailed in 2018, has had his Euribor interest rate-rigging conviction quashed following a lengthy legal battle.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- The UK Court of Appeal has quashed the interest rate-rigging conviction of former Deutsche Bank trader Christian Bittar.
- Bittar originally went to prison in 2018 and attended the recent proceedings via video link from Switzerland.
- This ruling follows the acquittal of five former Barclays bankers earlier in the same week.
- Out of 19 traders originally convicted in the UK and US, 18 have now been successfully acquitted or cleared.
The Court of Appeal in the United Kingdom has overturned the conviction of Christian Bittar, a former trader at Deutsche Bank who was sent to prison in 2018 for manipulating the Euribor benchmark interest rate. Unable to secure a visa to attend the hearing in person, Bittar watched the proceedings via a video link from Switzerland and told the BBC that he had waited a very, very long time for this day to arrive.
This legal milestone follows a decision by the same UK court on Wednesday, which quashed the convictions of five former Barclays bankers—Jay Merchant, Jonathan Mathew, Alex Pabon, Colin Bermingham, and Philippe Mouryoussef—after a grueling ten-year battle for justice stemming from the fallout of the financial crisis.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
The fresh appeals were launched following a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court last year, which acquitted Tom Hayes, the very first person jailed for rate rigging back in 2015, alongside Carlo Palombo who was jailed in 2019. In the initial 2015 trial of Hayes, Mr Justice Jeremy Cooke ruled as a matter of law that any attempt to influence commercial benchmark rates was unlawful, setting a precedent followed in eight subsequent trials.
The overturning of these benchmark interest rate convictions marks a profound shift in how the UK legal system interprets financial compliance during the 2008 financial crisis. While lower courts previously treated any commercial maneuvering of Libor or Euribor rates as an automatic crime, the Supreme Court ruled that juries must evaluate intent and context as matters of fact rather than strict points of law. This legal correction has systematically dismantled the convictions of nearly all prosecuted traders, raising serious questions about whether financial institutions and regulators used individual brokers as scapegoats for systemic banking failures.
Out of 37 City traders and brokers originally prosecuted across nine criminal trials held in London and New York between 2015 and 2019, 18 have now been cleared. All US convictions were completely overturned back in 2022 after an appellate court ruled there was insufficient evidence that the traders' requests violated any established rules or laws.
Only one former trader anywhere in the world now remains convicted: former Barclays trader Peter Johnson, who also served as an original whistleblower in the interest rate rigging scandal. Johnson had pleaded guilty on legal advice that his chances of winning at trial were slim, though the court confirmed he has now initiated steps to appeal his conviction as well.
"Finally the injustice of what I and others suffered has been recognised. I am so grateful for those who stood by me through this ordeal and those who worked so tirelessly to correct it."
Christian Bittar
The overturning of these verdicts has prompted senior politicians and defense lawyers to demand that the Bank of England and the Treasury release all internal records regarding their own roles in interest rate setting during the financial crisis. Former Conservative cabinet minister David Davis told the BBC that the convicted traders were victims of a series of severe miscarriages of justice.
Source: BBC Business
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