Tom Hayes Earns Right to Appeal Libor Rigging Conviction in UK Supreme Court

Tom Hayes, the first trader globally jailed for interest rate rigging, has been granted permission to appeal his conviction at the UK Supreme Court. Hayes, convicted in 2015, and his co-defendant Carlo Palombo, convicted in 2019, had their appeals dismissed earlier this year but will now have a chance to present their case to the UK's highest court.

Tom Hayes, the first trader jailed worldwide for interest rate rigging, has been given permission to appeal his conviction at the United Kingdom's Supreme Court, his lawyers announced on Thursday. Hayes, a former Citigroup and UBS trader, was convicted in 2015 for conspiracy to defraud by manipulating Libor, a benchmark rate formerly used to price trillions of financial products globally.

Earlier this year, Hayes appealed his conviction alongside Carlo Palombo, a former Barclays trader convicted in 2019 of manipulating Euribor, Libor's euro equivalent. The Court of Appeal in London dismissed their appeals in March, ruling that it was illegal to consider commercial interests when setting Libor or Euribor rates.

However, the Supreme Court has now granted them permission to appeal that ruling, signaling a fresh battle to clear their names in the UK's highest court.

(With inputs from agencies.)