U.K. Serious Fraud Office charges 2 over LIBOR-rigging
LONDON Britain's Serious Fraud office says two former brokers have been charged with conspiracy to defraud in connection with the rigging of a key benchmark interest rate.
The fraud office said Monday that City of London police charged 41-year-old Terry John Farr with two counts while 48-year-old James Gilmour received one count. The two are former brokers at RP Martin Holdings.
Authorities say the men were arrested in December after the fraud office opened its investigation into manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, or LIBOR.
LIBOR is the rate banks lend to each other and underpins trillions of dollars of transactions worldwide.
Revelations of its manipulation shocked the financial community. Last week, a U.K. committee recommended the running of LIBOR should be transferred to the New-York based Euronext NYSE.