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The Serious Fraud Office investigates and prosecutes the most complex fraud, bribery and corruption cases affecting the UK and the safety of our economy. 

Today’s Supreme Court decision comes thirteen years after we first investigated the practice used by some traders and submitters at selected banks to influence key benchmark rates of interest in financial markets.

These rates were called the London Inter-bank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) and the Euro Inter-bank Offered Rate (“EURIBOR”) and they affected the value of hundreds of trillions of dollars’ worth of financial products around the world, including ordinary people’s pensions, mortgages and savings.

Our investigation led to nine convictions of senior bankers for fraud offences, with two of these individuals pleading guilty and seven found guilty by juries. 

This judgment has determined that the legal directions given by the judge to the jury at the conclusion of trial were incorrect in Hayes’ and Palombo’s trials and for that reason their convictions have today been found unsafe.

We have considered this judgment and the full circumstances carefully and determined it would not be in the public interest for us to seek a retrial.

29 August 2025 update

We have a duty, as a prosecutor, to inform past defendants about any development that could affect their conviction.  

At this point, we have made an assessment on six individuals.  

We consider that, in five instances, the circumstances that led to Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo’s appeals being upheld by the Supreme Court could apply to them too. 

We consider that the jury directions, given at Hayes’ and subsequently Palombo’s trial and which were the basis of the court’s judgment, may apply to Jonathan Mathew, Jay Merchant, Alex Pabon, Philippe Moryoussef and Colin Bermingham’s trials. Therefore, their convictions may be considered unsafe. 

For one individual, Peter Johnson, we have considered the judgment in respect of his guilty plea, and we consider that the conviction is safe.  

It is for each defendant to consider whether they wish to progress their case to the Criminal Cases Review Commission or the Court of Appeal.

6 October 2025 update

We have completed our review of cases that could be affected by this judgment. This includes Christian Bittar who pleaded guilty. We consider his conviction is safe.

Our statement for media on this case is below.

Jason Williams, Serious Fraud Office Head of Division, said: 

The Supreme Court found the jury, if properly directed, had ample evidence to convict Hayes and Palombo and left it open to us to seek permission for a re-trial. We’ve decided this wouldn’t be in the public interest due to various factors including that the defendants have already served prison sentences.

We have advised every defendant how this judgment may affect their conviction and it’s for them to consider any next steps. We remain firmly committed to our mission to investigate and prosecute the most complex economic crimes in the UK.

7 October 2026 update

Court of Appeal decision in LIBOR and EURIBOR appeals

Today the Court of Appeal overturned the convictions of Jonathan Mathew, Jay Merchant, Alex Pabon, Philippe Moryoussef and Colin Bermingham.

The case follows the Supreme Court’s judgment in the appeals of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, which related to the legal directions given to juries in LIBOR and EURIBOR prosecutions.

Following consideration of that judgment, the Serious Fraud Office did not oppose the appeals of five defendants convicted following trial.

Our statement for media on this ruling is below.

Jason Williams, Head of Division at the Serious Fraud Office, said:

The Supreme Court found that there was ample evidence on which a properly directed jury could have convicted Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo. We deemed it was not in the public interest to seek retrials of these two individuals.

After carefully considering this judgment and the full circumstances we did not oppose the appeals of five individuals convicted by juries in relation to Libor and Euribor. We communicated our decision last year to each of the people affected by the judgment.

The SFO remains committed to pursuing the most serious cases of fraud, bribery and corruption.