Prosecutors close to making Libor arrests
US PROSECUTORS and European regulators are close to arresting individual traders over the Libor scandal and charging them with colluding to manipulate global benchmark interest rates, according to people familiar with the investigation.
Federal prosecutors in Washington DC have recently contacted lawyers representing some of the individuals under suspicion to notify them that criminal charges and arrests could be imminent, said two sources who asked not to be identified.
Defence lawyers, some of whom represent individuals under suspicion, said prosecutors have indicated they plan to begin making arrests and filing charges in the next few weeks.
The prospect of charges of individuals means prosecutors are getting a fuller picture of how traders at major banks allegedly sought to influence the London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor, and other global rates that underpin hundreds of trillions of dollars in assets.
The criminal charges would come alongside efforts by regulators to punish major banks with fines, and could show that the alleged activity was not rampant in the banks.