Christian Bittar rate-rigging conviction quashed by Court of Appeal

What happened in court

The Court of Appeal has quashed the criminal conviction of former Deutsche Bank trader Christian Bittar for manipulating the benchmark Euribor interest rate.

Bittar, who was sentenced to prison in 2018, watched the judgment via video link from Switzerland after he was denied a visa to attend in person. His acquittal follows the quashing of convictions for five former Barclays bankers earlier in the week.

Out of 19 traders convicted in the UK and the United States in the wake of the Libor and Euribor benchmarking investigations, 18 have now been cleared.

Speaking after the ruling, Bittar said: "I have waited a very, very long time for this day. Finally, the injustice of what I and others suffered has been recognised."

Why the convictions are falling apart

The series of overturned convictions stems from a landmark Supreme Court decision last year that quashed the convictions of former UBS trader Tom Hayes and former Barclays trader Carlo Palombo.

During the original prosecutions starting in 2015, trial judges instructed juries that any attempt by traders to influence benchmark interest rates for commercial advantage was automatically unlawful. However, the Supreme Court ruled that judges had misdirected juries on the law, concluding that whether commercial rate requests were permissible was a matter of fact for a jury to decide rather than an automatic criminal breach. All related US convictions were overturned in 2022 on similar grounds.

Unlike the cases of the five Barclays traders cleared earlier in the week, where the Serious Fraud Office chose not to contest the appeals, the prosecutor actively fought to uphold Bittar's conviction.

Jason Williams, head of division at the Serious Fraud Office, said the agency argued for a different outcome but respected the court's decision, adding that the organisation remains committed to tackling complex fraud.

Ben Rose, a partner at Hickman and Rose who represented Bittar, called the agency's conduct a scandal, stating that the SFO had consistently failed to ensure fair trials.

What happens next

Only one trader convicted during the global benchmark investigations still holds a criminal record: former Barclays employee Peter Johnson, who pleaded guilty in 2014.

His lawyer, Ellen Gallagher of law firm Vardags, confirmed that Johnson has filed provisional grounds to appeal against his conviction.

Meanwhile, former Conservative cabinet minister David Davis called on the Bank of England and the Treasury to publish all internal records regarding their involvement in rate setting during the 2008 financial crisis, arguing that low-level traders were scapegoated to protect central bank operations.