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The Supreme Court is set to hear the appeal of former bankers Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo regarding their convictions in the Libor and Euribor cases. The Court has granted them permission to present their final plea.
Tom Hayes, who previously worked as a trader for UBS and Citigroup, received an 11-year prison sentence in 2015 after being found guilty of conspiring to manipulate the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor). This made Hayes the first individual in Britain to be convicted for rigging this now-discredited financial benchmark.
Meanwhile, Carlo Palombo, a former trader at Barclays, was sentenced to four years in prison in 2019 after being convicted of manipulating the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (Euribor).
Both Hayes and Palombo have long sought to clear their names and have campaigned for their convictions to be overturned.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) referred their cases to the Court of Appeal, where the hearings took place over three days in early March.
In a highly anticipated decision, the Court of Appeal upheld their convictions on 27th March and dismissed the appeals.
At the time, Hayes stated to the press, “The UK remains an international outlier when it comes to the definition and operation of Libor, not only compared to America but also Europe.”
Currently, the UK stands alone in treating this conduct as a criminal offence. In response to the Court of Appeal’s decision, MP David Davis commented that the ruling left London as an “outlier” compared to other global financial centres.
After the Court of Appeal denied permission for further appeal in May, Hayes and Palombo were compelled to take their case directly to the Supreme Court, but they had to demonstrate a point of law was involved.
Today, it was announced that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear their appeal.
Reacting to the decision, Karen Todner, representing Hayes, expressed her satisfaction: “I’m delighted the Supreme Court has agreed to hear our case and that we have the opportunity to rectify this severe miscarriage of justice.”
She further added, “Tom’s legal team, including myself, Adrian Darbishire KC, and Tom Doble, will continue to work tirelessly to ensure his name is cleared.”
Ben Rose, Palombo’s solicitor from Hickman & Rose, also expressed his delight, saying, “I’m pleased that the Supreme Court has granted Carlo and Tom permission to appeal.”
He went on to say, “The Court of Appeal Criminal Division has addressed the interpretation of Libor/Euribor five times now, leaving the UK as an anomaly in criminalising this conduct. I genuinely hope that the Supreme Court will overturn these long-standing miscarriages of justice.”
As of now, there is no specific timeline for the court date, as it will depend on the court’s schedule and availability.
