Five former Barclays traders, previously sentenced in one of the most prominent financial scandals of the 2008 economic crisis, have had their convictions overturned following an extensive legal fight. Jay Merchant, Jonathan Mathew, Philippe Moryoussef, Alex Pabon, and Colin Bermingham were originally convicted for manipulating the interbank lending rates known as Libor and Euribor.
The Court of Appeal ruled on Wednesday to quash the convictions. This decision follows similar reversals last year for two other former City traders, which established a legal precedent allowing others to appeal their cases.
The traders were originally prosecuted as symbols of banker greed during a period of intense public anger over the financial crisis. While the prosecutions were driven by a desire to hold the financial sector accountable, the traders now argue they were targeted to appease public sentiment rather than because their actions constituted criminal behavior.
Jonathan Mathew expressed relief at the ruling, stating that the decade-long strain had been a heavy burden. “Having this conviction quashed is not simply about correcting the record, it’s about finally having validation that this is an injustice that never should have happened,” he said. He added that the decision was particularly meaningful for his two children.
Merchant, 55, also welcomed the outcome, saying he was eager to move forward with his life while ensuring that those responsible for the original events were held accountable. Lord Justice Edis confirmed that full reasons for the judgment would be provided later in the day.
Moryoussef, who was sentenced in absentia in 2018, has never returned to the UK to serve his term after France refused extradition. The other four men served varying prison sentences.
The Libor scandal emerged in 2012, revealing that banks had been misrepresenting their borrowing costs to boost profits and conceal financial difficulties. Between 2015 and 2019, approximately 19 City traders were convicted in nine trials across London and New York.
The path for these appeals was cleared by Tom Hayes, a former UBS trader, who became the first banker jailed for rate rigging. After a ten-year legal battle, his conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court in July 2025. Similarly, Carlo Palombo, jailed in 2019, successfully argued that his prosecution was politically motivated. Both men contended they were prosecuted for standard commercial practices.
With this latest ruling, only two traders remain with convictions related to interest rate rigging: former Deutsche Bank trader Christian Bittar and former Barclays trader Peter Johnson. Bittar, who served two years of an 2018 sentence after pleading guilty, plans to challenge his conviction on October 9. Johnson, originally a whistleblower who sparked the scandal, also intends to appeal based on legal advice he received at the time.
Relief for the men, certainly. But it makes you wonder how many other financial convictions from that era will face similar fates.
I hope this doesn’t mean traders can manipulate rates with impunity. The system failed us in 2008, and this feels like more of the same.
It is wild how long these legal battles drag on. A decade of stress for something that might have been standard practice?
Wait, only two convictions remain now? The whole Libor case seems to be collapsing. Did justice ever really happen here?
So the first prosecutions were just political theater? This feels like a massive win for due process, whatever the moral cost.