SFO tells former Barclays trader convicted of Euribor rigging to pay £77,000 confiscation order

A former Barclays trader who was found guilty of manipulating the Euribor interest rate benchmark has been ordered to pay more than £77,000 or have an extra three years added to his sentence.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which brought its case against Philippe Moryoussef in 2015, has ordered the former trader to pay a confiscation order of £77, 354.26 within three months or have an extra three years added to his eight-year sentence. 

Moryoussef, a French national, decided not to attend the trial this summer and was tried in absentia. He was sentenced to eight years in prison. He remains in France.

Moryoussef was charged alongside five other traders – Sisse Bohart, Carlo Palombo, Colin Bermingham – all of whom used to work at Barclays – and Deutsche Bank employee Achim Kraemer, with fraudulently rigging the Euribor rate for commercial gain.

Kraemer was acquitted of rigging the Euribor rate but the SFO ordered the retrial of Palombo, Bermingham and Bohart after the jury failed to reach a verdict. 

Alongside the confiscation order Moryoussef has been told to pay the SFO's costs of £597,754.

Moryoussef’s confiscation order adds to the £2.5m the SFO has received from Christian Bittar, a former star trader at Deutsche Bank who the SFO ruled had "conspired" with Moryoussef in rigging the interest rate benchmark.

Bittar pleaded guilty to Euribor rigging in March. He received a prison sentence of five years and four months.

Moryoussef declined to comment.