UK court jails trader for 14 years for fraud

London's Southwark Crown Court has jailed former UBS and Citigroup trader Tom Hayes for fraud.

According to the BBC,the 35-year old was sent to jail for 14 years, and is the first individual to face a jury trial for manipulating the Libor Rate, which is used as a benchmark for trillions of pounds of global borrowing and lending.

Many of the world's leading banks have paid heavy financial penalties for tampering with the key benchmark.

The jury found Hayes guilty on all eight charges of conspiracy to defraud.

Hayes stood impassively as the foreman on the jury read out all eight guilty verdicts.

His wife noted down the verdicts as they were read out.

At one point, he shook his head and looked across at his wife, mother and stepfather in the public gallery.

Hayes held his head in his hands while his lawyer read out a list of mitigating factors.

Hayes was sentenced to 14 years, half to be spent in custody before any possibility of release on licence.

Justice Cooke was quoted, as saying that Hayes was the "centre and hub" of the manipulation.

He said: "You succumbed to temptation because you could... To gain status, seniority and remuneration," adding that Hayes' actions were "dishonest and wrong".

The case was brought by the Serious Fraud Office, which said Hayes set up a network of brokers and traders spanning 10 financial institutions and cajoled or bribed them to help rig Libor rates for profit.

During the trial, jurors were told that Hayes promised to pay a broker up to $100,000 to keep the Libor rate "as low as possible".

It took the jury one week to arrive at the verdicts.