Ex-Rabobank Traders Appeal US Libor Conviction

Two former employees of Dutch bank Rabobank are seeking to have their convictions over-turned by a U.S. circuit court. The U.S. appeals court is investigating if the rights of the traders were violated. The case against Anthony Allen and Anthony Conti, two British traders for Rabobank, was the first Libor case to go to trial in the U.S. The traders believe their case was unjustly affected by the testimony of another ex-Rabobank trader, Paul Robson. Robson became a cooperating witness, and they believe he misrepresented statements Allen and Conti made to a UK regulator over a similar probe, in which they were compelled to give evidence. Allen’s lawyer Michael Schachter, said they believe Robson may have used their testimony from that case while bearing witness in the U.S. trial or as part of his plea-deal, which is against American constitution. The presiding judge Gerard Lynch is to review if that indeed was the case. “He may have actually seen it, but we have a record where he did not actually testify to it until after he had been exposed to the immunized testimony,” Lynch said.

Though the Justice Department insist they made sure the case wasn’t tainted, lawyer John Pellettieri said it was irrelevant as the testimony came from a foreign government. Buttressing his point, Circuit Judge Jose Cabranes added, “if a foreign sovereign beats the hell out of somebody and compels the testimony, since it’s a different sovereign, you’re able to use that compelled testimony in a federal court.” So far there have been $9 billion of global settlements regarding investigations into Libor manipulations. Rabobank was responsible for $1 billion of that in 2013, a year before its traders were prosecuted. They were found guilty of conspiring to rig U.S. dollar and yen Libor rates. Allen and Conti are to serve two years and one year in prison respectively.