Ex-Barclays trader Alex Pabon loses appeal against conviction for Libor rigging
Former Barclays trader Alex Pabon has lost an appeal against his Libor rigging sentence after a court found that doubts surrounding the credibility of an expert witness did not merit his conviction being overturned.
Pabon was among three traders to be convicted by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in 2016 for their roles in Libor manipulation, but had been seeking to have his conviction quashed owing to the conduct of a Mr Saul Haydon Rowe, who had "fared disastrously" at the retrial of two other traders, Stylianos Contogoulas and Ryan Michael Reich, who were later acquitted of Libor misconduct charges.
The court heard that Rowe "lacked expertise" and was found to have asked acquaintances for help with the material the SFO had provided him with when they called on him as a witness.
However, Court of Appeal judges Gross, Sweeney and Haddon-Cave said they were "wholly unable to make the causal link between Rowe's failings and the issue of the appellant's dishonesty, which was the key focus of the trial".
"The issue of the appellant's dishonesty was wholly unaffected by Rowe's evidence, even considering Rowe's presentation in the round," they said. "Accordingly, our conclusion as to the safety of the appellant's conviction stands."
Along with Pabon, former UBS and Citigroup trader Tom Hayes has also sought to overturn his 11-year prison sentence for Libor rigging.
Last year he won the right to halt the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) decision to ban him from the financial services industry pending the outcome a Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) investigation, which could refer his case back to the Court of Appeal.
Last week, former Deutsche Bank trader Guillaume Adolph escaped with an £180,000 fine from the FCA which banned him from ever working in the financial services industry after he was found to have manipulated the Libor rate.