Possible criminal charges this summer against individuals in LIBOR rate fixing scandal

The Wall Street Journal reports in Criminal Cases Loom in Rate Rigging that criminal charges may be brought against individuals who worked at Barclay. Charges could be filed this summer (2013) but the investigation is going slow so the timeline could slip.

Previous criminal charges have been limited. The WSJ article summarizes them as follows:

…So far, U.S. authorities have filed charges against two individuals. … Units of two banks—UBS and Royal Bank of Scotland GroupPLC—pleaded guilty to U.S. criminal charges as part of rate-manipulation settlements.

In two situations, the feds and the banks agreed that a small ancillary sub outside the U.S. would take the hit for the criminal charge. From my little corner of my little world, the impact from a small sub who operates outside the U.S. effectively being barred from operating inside the U.S. is quite trivial. On the other hand, a criminal conviction against any part of a bank is a big breakthrough.

Let’s see what happens this summer.

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