LONDON - Britain’s Serious Fraud Office said Tuesday that it had filed eight fraud charges against a former UBS trader, Thomas Hayes, in connection with the manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, or Libor.
The charges against Mr. Hayes are the first brought by British prosecutors in the Libor case. The multi-year investigation by United States, British and other authorities into the rigging of the rate benchmarks â€" which help determine the borrowing rates for trillions of dollars of mortgages, business loans, credit cards and other financial products â€" has ensnared more than a dozen big banks.
Mr. Hayes, a British national who worked in Tokyo, and another former UBS trader, Roger Darin, 41, of Switzerland were charged with conspiracy by the United States Justice Department in a criminal complaint that was unsealed in December.
The British prosecutors said Mr. Hayes was charged Tuesday morning at a police station in London’s financial district with offences of conspiracy to defraud in connection with the ongoing investigation into Libor.
“He attended Bishopsgate police station this morning where he was charged by City of London Police with eight counts of fraud,†the S.F.O. said in a statement.
Mr. Hayes, who previously also worked for Citigroup, figured prominently in the case against UBS, which under a settlement pleaded guilty to one count of felony wire fraud and paid about $1.5 billion in fines.
Mr. Hayes was one of three individuals arrested and questioned by the police and Serious Fraud Office staff last December. He is due to appear before a London court at a later date, the S.F.O. said.
