Former Barclays trader found guilty in Euribor case

LONDON: A London court on Thursday found a former trader with Barclays bank guilty of manipulating the Euribor interbank rate.
Philippe Moryoussef, a French national, was accused along with five other traders from Barclays and Deutsche Bank of manipulating the rate, which is linked to trillions of dollars worth of loans and derivatives, between January 2005 and December 2009.
Achim Kraemer, who remains with Deutsche Bank, was found innocent of wrongdoing while a colleague who pleaded guilty in March is to be sentenced next week, Bloomberg reported.
After a trial lasting more than two months the court was unable to decide on three other Barclays ex-traders who pleaded not guilty.
Moryoussef returned to France as the trial started and has refused to return, his lawyer stating his client did not believe he would receive a fair hearing.
Britain has tried without success to get four other former traders from Deutsche Bank and one from Societe Generale extradited from Germany and France.
Bloomberg noted a highlight of the trial had been when Barclays dealer Carlo Palombo was asked by the judge if he had been paid 400,000 pounds a year for "being a tea boy."
He responded: "I was. It's ridiculous but I was ... as ridiculous as it sounds, a coffee boy at Barclays gets paid 400,000 pounds a year."
Palombo also equated being a junior trader with being "the guy that serves you in McDonald's." — AFP