Former Barclays Plc banker, Peter Johnson, pleaded guilty to a Libor rate-rigging charge in the UK in October 2014, according to the Serious Fraud Office.
Johnson admitted to conspiring to manipulate the London InterBank Offered Rate, known as Libor.
Libor is an average interest rate calculated through submissions of interest rates by major banks across the world – it calculates more than $300 trillion of securities around the world.
The SFO disclosed the information after an order was lifted banning the publication of Peter Johnson’s guilty plea, five weeks into the trial of five other former Barclays bankers facing similar Libor rigging charges.
Jonathan Mathew, 35, Stylianos Contogoulas, 44, Jay Merchant, 45, Alex Pabon, 37, and Ryan Reich, 34, have each entered not guilty pleas to one charge of conspiracy to defraud by manipulating Libor between 2005 and 2007.
The SFO says that the men behaved dishonestly when asking colleagues to submit Libor rates that would benefit trading positions. Their defense arguments will begin on Thursday.
Former UBS and Citigroup trader Tom Hayes was the first to be found guilty for Libor-related offences. He was sentenced to fourteen years in prison for his role in the Libor Scandal.
