Libor Fixing Scandal: SFO Puts 22 more Traders 'On Notice'

Britain's Serious Fraud Office has revealed in court that another 22 people could face criminal charges related to the manipulation of Libor.

During a hearing in Southwark Crown Court in London, prosecutors revealed that 60 investigators are working on the probe, into the attempted rigging of the key interbank lending rate Libor, and that many more bank employees were involved.

The SFO then revealed that the individuals were each sent letters in September "putting them on notice" and that they may be investigated and could face criminal charges related to the Libor rigging probe.

Originally on 17 October, the court silenced The Wall Street Journal from publishing the names of individuals that the government plans to implicate in a Libor fixing criminal-fraud case in England and Wales, after threatening its European banking editor with imprisonment, a fine, or asset seizure.

According to an order from the Crown Court in Southwark, David Enrich and third parties were forced to comply with a request by the UK's Serious Fraud Office, which prohibited printing the names of individuals on the internet, in the newspaper, or in any television broadcast that someone in England or Wales may see.

However, High Court Judge Justice Cooke lifted that reporting ban several days later after, saying that it would not cause prejudice to any future court cases as they would not be taking place at least until 2015.

"This represents a victory for all media organisations operating in England and Wales, many of whom supported us in this effort," said a spokesperson for Dow Jones.

In the Docks: Hayes, Farr and Gilmour

Libor valuations directly influence the value of trillions of dollars of financial deals between banks and other institutions. The benchmark reference rates are used in euro, US dollar and British sterling over-the-counter (OTC) interest rate derivatives contracts and exchange traded interest rate contracts.

On 18 June, the SFO charged Tom Hayes with eight counts of fraud, in connection with criminal investigations into the manipulation of Libor.

The SFO confirmed he was one of the three individuals arrested and interviewed on 11 December, 2012.

One month later, the SFO charged the other two individuals, Terry Farr and James Gilmour, who were former brokers with RP Martin Holdings, with conspiracy to defraud over Libor rates.

Barclays was the first to settle with UK and US authorities in June 2012 for £290m.

Nearly six months later UBS agreed a record $1.5bn fine with US, UK and Swiss authorities and also admitted to one count of wire fraud relating to rigging rates in Yen.

In February 2013, RBS became the third major bank to settle with the CFTC, DoJ and FSA for £390m relating to civil and criminal charges.

RBS subsidary, RBS Securities Japan Limited, also pleaded guilty to one criminal charge of wire fraud.

In September this year, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Britain's Financial Conduct Authority fined the world's largest interdealer brokerage Icap for its role in the manipulation of the interbank lending rate Libor.

Icap will pay £14m to the FCA and £41m to the CFTC after a significant number of brokers, including two managers, attempted to rig rates between October 2006 and November 2010.