Libor-Euribor Affair: The "Scandal" Collapses, Convicted Traders Are Cleared

The long legal blunder has finally been officially acknowledged. Twenty years after the events, a decade after the first convictions, the traders prosecuted for manipulating Libor and Euribor interest rates, some of whom spent many years in prison, were finally cleared on Wednesday, July 23. The British Supreme Court overturned the convictions of two traders, Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo. Following the overturning of similar convictions in the United States in 2022, this was the final stage of a gigantic legal battle: there is now no country in the world where the courts still condemn the actions of this "scandal" that was not one.

Libor, abolished in September 2024, has long been the epitome of traders' derailment following the 2008 financial crisis. This obscure interbank interest rate set in London—and its European equivalent, Euribor—served as a benchmark for millions of financial products. Many real estate loans and derivatives are calculated on this basis.

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