Hayes, Tom

Tom Hayes was convicted in August 2015 of eight counts of conspiracy to defraud and received a sentence of 14 years’ imprisonment (reduced to 11 years on appeal).

The CCRC received an application for review of the conviction in February 2017.

Mr Hayes, a financial market trader, was found guilty of conspiracy to defraud by ‘rigging’ the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR), a benchmark interest rate used by major global banks.

In January 2022, a US Court judgment overturned the convictions of two other former traders convicted in similar circumstances. As a consequence, all charges against Mr Hayes in the USA were dropped.

In light of these developments, the CCRC invited Mr Hayes’ legal representatives to make additional submissions with regard to his convictions in the UK.

Following review, the CCRC concluded that there was a real possibility that the Court of Appeal would prefer the legal approach to the definition and operation of the LIBOR rules taken by the US Court than those which were reached in Mr Hayes’s own case, and would therefore find that this rendered his conviction unsafe. 

The CCRC referred the conviction in July 2023.

The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction in March 2024.