Christian Bittar, a former Deutsche Bank trader who was imprisoned in 2018 for manipulating the benchmark interest rate Euribor, has had his conviction overturned by the Court of Appeal. This decision follows a lengthy legal battle and comes shortly after the same court overturned convictions of five former Barclays bankers in related rate-rigging trials.
Mentioning the long wait for this day, Bittar, who participated in the proceedings via video link from Switzerland due to visa issues, stated, "I have waited a very, very long time for this day."
The financial crisis, which began in 2008, had profound global economic consequences, leading to recessions in numerous countries and a significant public backlash against bankers, who were widely blamed for the crisis despite taxpayer-funded bailouts of the financial sector.
The Libor scandal surfaced in 2012, revealing that banks had misrepresented their positions during the process of setting lending rates at the onset of the financial crisis. This practice was used to inflate profits and conceal financial difficulties.
Between 2015 and 2019, approximately 19 City traders were convicted in the US and UK across nine criminal trials held in London and New York. With Bittar's conviction now overturned, 18 of these traders have been acquitted.
The only remaining convicted former trader globally is Peter Johnson, a former Barclays trader and an initial whistleblower in the interest rate rigging scandal. He had pleaded guilty on the advice that his chances of winning at trial were slim. The court has confirmed that he has also applied to appeal his conviction.
This development has prompted calls from lawyers and senior politicians for the Bank of England and the Treasury to release all records pertaining to their involvement in interest rate 'rigging' during the financial crisis, amid concerns of a cover-up involving central banks and governments.
'Finally our injustice has been recognised'
Following the quashing of his conviction, Bittar expressed his relief: "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."
His wife, Caroline, who resides in the UK, spoke about the "valuable 15 years" lost by their family, noting that their children had "grown up with this injustice." She added that they are looking forward to "enjoying life with our family and friends without this shadow hanging over us."
On Wednesday, Jay Merchant, Jonathan Mathew, Alex Pabon, Colin Bermingham, and Philippe Mouryoussef had their convictions for manipulating Libor and Euribor quashed after a decade-long pursuit of justice. Their appeals were bolstered by a Supreme Court ruling last year that acquitted Tom Hayes, the first trader jailed for interest rate 'rigging' in 2015, and Carlo Palombo, who was jailed in 2019.
Tom Hayes, initially sentenced to 14 years (reduced to 11 on appeal), is now seeking damages from his former employer, UBS.
The traders were among 37 City traders and brokers prosecuted for manipulating Libor and Euribor. These benchmarks reflect the cost of interbank borrowing and have been used to set interest rates for millions of mortgages and commercial loans.
The BBC has uncovered evidence suggesting a broader, state-orchestrated 'rigging' of interest rates, influenced by central banks and governments worldwide. Evidence implicating Downing Street and the Bank of England was reportedly suppressed during the criminal trials.
Former Conservative cabinet minister David Davis told the BBC that the exonerated traders were victims of a "scapegoating exercise" resulting from "the government's own misbehaviour in lowballing [falsely understating] Libor interest rates themselves, in order to try and rescue the economy after their own self-induced crash in the late 2000s."
In 2015, during Tom Hayes' trial, Mr Justice Jeremy Cooke ruled that any attempt to influence the rates was unlawful, and that rates influenced by commercial interests were automatically false. Subsequent judges followed this precedent.
However, in July 2025, the Supreme Court determined that the judges had erred in law by misdirecting juries. The Supreme Court ruled that the legality of such requests should have been a question of fact for the jury to decide.
In 2022, all convictions in the United States were overturned after an appeal court found insufficient evidence that the traders' requests had violated any rules or laws.
