Broker returns to face charges

Darrell Read pleaded not guilty to two charges of conspiracy to defraud. Photo / AP

A New Zealand-based money broker will return voluntarily to his former home of Britain this year to face fraud charges and allegations he tried to manipulate international banking rates.

Prosecutors have revealed that Wellington resident Darrell Read paid 40,000 ($79,000) security as part of his bail conditions, which allow him to travel between this country and the United Kingdom ahead of his 12-week jury trial beginning in September.

Read, according to the United Kingdom's Serious Fraud Office, has appeared via video link during recent hearings at London's Southwark Crown Court, including last month when he pleaded not guilty to two charges of conspiracy to defraud.

The charges carry a maximum penalty of 10 years' jail.

The SFO accuses the British ex-pat of conspiring with two colleagues at London-based broking house ICAP, to make false submissions for Yen Libor for the benefit of one of their clients.

Libor - or the London interbank offered rate - is set every morning and is a key part of the relationship between borrowers and lenders around the world.

The alleged offending by Read and his co-accused is said to have taken place between August 2006 and September 2010 while one of their clients, Tom Hayes, worked at both UBS in Japan and then at Citigroup.

"Knowing or believing that UBS, through the trading activity of Tom Hayes and others, was a party to trading referenced to London Interbank Offered Rates for Japanese Yen [Yen Libor], they dishonestly agreed to procure or make submissions or rates by panel banks into the Yen Libor setting process which were false and misleading," according to documents detailing the charges in the case.

It is further alleged the defendants deliberately disregarded the proper basis for making Libor submissions and hoped to create an advantage for Hayes' trading, "thereby intending to prejudice the economic interests of others".

Although Read moved to New Zealand in 2007, he continued working for ICAP - which in 2013 was fined US$87 million by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic for its role in the Libor scandal, which has seen numerous financial institutions penalised.

Neither Read nor his co-accused in his trial, Colin Goodman and Danny Wilkinson, are still employed by the London-based firm, which called the trio and others former workers "rotten apples" when the rates-rigging allegations emerged 15 months ago.

Read did not want to discuss the case when contacted last month.

He and his co-accused are also facing wire fraud charges in the United States over their alleged attempts to manipulate the rates.

Those charges come with a maximum penalty of 30 years' jail and it is understood Read has not entered a plea to them.

The Department of Justice did not respond to Herald inquiries about the prosecution.

Hayes is also facing charges in both the US and UK.

His trial in Britain is expected to begin this May.

Key player

• Libor - or London interbank offered rate - is woven into the fabric of the world's capital markets.

• The rate sets the price for banks, international financiers or anyone wanting to raise funds through the interest rate markets.

• From major international deals through to home mortgages, Libor is key to the relationship between borrowers and lenders globally.

• Financial instruments worth hundreds of trillions of dollars are tied to Libor.

• A British banking trade group sets the Libor every morning after international banks submit estimates of borrowing costs.

• Libor became engulfed in scandal after the global financial crisis and allegations emerged that banks had rigged these rates.

• A string of financial institutions have paid billions in settlements.