BCS Barclays PLC

By Philip Georgiadis 

Two former Barclays PLC employees have been acquitted of conspiracy to defraud in relation to the manipulation of Libor interest rates after a retrial in London.

The acquittals conclude the U.K. Serious Fraud Office's final outstanding trial over Libor--the London interbank offered rate--although the agency said its investigation is continuing.

Ryan Michael Reich was acquitted Wednesday and Stylianos Contogoulas was acquitted Thursday morning, a spokeswoman for the SFO confirmed.

The monthlong retrial of the two traders came after a jury in July last year failed to reach a verdict on the two men, while convicting three other former Barclays employees in connection with the investigation.

Mr. Reich said in a statement that he had acted in accordance with the rules at the time. "I am saddened that it has taken so long to expose the case against me, a junior trader just doing my job over a decade ago, as being totally without foundation," Mr. Reich said.

Mr. Contogoulas's legal team didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Barclays declined to comment.

British citizens Jonathan Mathew and Jay Merchant, as well as American Alex Pabon, were all convicted of conspiracy to defraud in last year's trial. Messrs. Merchant and Pabon were both Libor traders, while Mr. Mathew was a submitter.

Peter Johnson, a senior submitter and head U.S. dollar cash trader at Barclays, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud in October 2014. Tom Hayes, a former bank trader at both UBS Group AG and Citigroup Inc., was found guilty in August 2015 of rigging Libor and sentenced to 14 years in prison, though that was later reduced to 11 years.

The SFO has brought charges against 19 individuals in relation to Libor and the separate Euribor rate. Of those, eight have now been acquitted, four have been convicted and one pleaded guilty.

Six individuals from Deutsche Bank and Barclays have been charged and will stand trial over conspiracy to defraud in relation to Euribor.

The Wall Street Journal first drew attention nine years ago to industry concerns around how Libor was being set, sparking a global probe that has resulted in multiple convictions and billions of dollars in penalties paid by banks. Barclays paid $450 million to U.S. and U.K. authorities in 2012 and admitted that traders and managers had sought to rig the rate.

Write to Philip Georgiadis at philip.georgiadis@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 06, 2017 11:03 ET (15:03 GMT)

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