The UK Court of Appeal has overturned the convictions of five former Barclays traders—Jay Vijay Merchant, Jonathan Mathew, Philippe Moryoussef, Alex Pabon, and Colin Bermingham—who were previously imprisoned for their roles in the manipulation of Libor interest rates. These individuals had been convicted and jailed between 2016 and 2019 for conspiracy to defraud by manipulating the benchmark rates used to price financial products globally.

The court’s decision to quash these convictions follows a significant legal precedent set last year by the UK Supreme Court, which overturned the conviction of former UBS and Citigroup trader Tom Hayes. The legal challenges centered on whether the conduct of the traders, which was once considered standard practice in the industry, met the legal threshold for criminal fraud at the time. The appellate judges concluded that the original convictions could not stand in light of the evolving interpretation of the law regarding these financial benchmarks.

While the prosecution argued that the traders deliberately manipulated rates to benefit their own trading positions, the defense maintained that the practices were widely known and accepted by management and regulators during the period in question. The overturning of these convictions marks the end of a long-running legal battle that has spanned over a decade, raising questions about the accountability of individual traders versus the systemic culture of the banking institutions they served.