Ex-Barclays trader to pay almost £300,000 for Libor fixing
A former Barclays trader who was jailed for his role in the rigging of the Libor bank rate must pay almost £300,000 in earnings deemed to be proceeds from the crime.
Jay Merchant, who is currently serving five-and-a-half years in prison after being found guilty in July last year, must pay £275,890 in profits along with a £21,961 legal bill, according to a confiscation order handed down by a London court today.
Merchant must pay the amount this month or face another five years added on to his sentence.
He was one of four former Barclays employees jailed as part of the British investigation into the manipulation of the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor), previously used by banks and businesses around the world to determine a so-called risk-free rate for borrowing.
Alex Pabon, Jonathan Mathew, and Peter Johnson were also found guilty of manipulating the rate for more than two years up to September 2007. Merchant, the most senior of the four, received the longest sentence and was ordered to repay the largest amount.
The order was confirmed by the Serious Fraud Office and first reported by Bloomberg.