Jury discharged in trial of senior Barclays executives accused of financial crisis fraud
The jury in the trial of four former senior Barclays executive accused of fraud for their part in a financial crisis-era emergency fundraising was discharged today.
The high-profile case marks the first time senior bankers have faced court in a case related to the 2008-09 financial crash.
In October the High Court quashed an attempt by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to make Barclays a party to the fraud trial which started in January.
Read more: Ex-Barclays boss John Varley says Qatar payment was part of his strategy
The four defendants are former Barclays chief executive John Varley and former senior bankers Roger Jenkins, Richard Boath and Tom Kalaris.
They are accused of covering up £322m in fees the bank paid to Qatar during two emergency fundraisings that raised £12bn for the bank at the height of the financial crisis as it sought to avoid a government bailout.
The prosecution alleges that two advisory service agreements (ASAs) under which Qatar agreed to provide the bank with local contacts and intelligence were sham vehicles for Barclays to pay Qatar £322m in fees for participating in the two cash calls.
Jenkins and Varley deny two counts of fraud by false representation connected to two fundraisings in June and October 2008. Boath and Kalaris both deny one count over the June fundraising.
Read more: Ex-Barclays traders sentenced in Euribor rigging scandal
Last month, in an unconnected case, the SFO secured the conviction of two former Barclays traders for rigging the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (Euribor), a financial benchmark.
Carlo Palombo and Colin Bermingham were sentenced to a combined nine years in prison for their role in the conspiracy, in which they were found to have entered false and misleading rates to influence Euribor to boost their trading books in the lead-up to the financial crisis.