Ex-Deutsche Bank trader Christian Bittar has rate-rigging conviction overturned

The Court of Appeal has quashed the conviction of Christian Bittar, a former Deutsche Bank trader who was jailed in 2018 for "manipulating" the benchmark interest rate, Euribor. The ruling comes days after the same court overturned the convictions of five former Barclays bankers in related rate-rigging trials.

Bittar, who watched the proceedings via video link from Switzerland because he was not granted a visa to attend court, said: "I have waited a very, very long time for this day."

Legal Errors and Acquittals

The overturning of Bittar’s conviction is part of a broader legal shift in the rate-rigging cases. Earlier this week, the Court of Appeal quashed the convictions of Jay Merchant, Jonathan Mathew, Alex Pabon, Colin Bermingham, and Philippe Moryoussef, all former Barclays bankers. These acquittals followed a Supreme Court ruling last year that had already overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo.

According to the BBC, the Supreme Court decided in July 2025 that trial judges had erred by misdirecting juries. The judges had ruled that any attempt to influence rates was unlawful as a matter of law, whereas the Supreme Court determined that whether requests were right or wrong was a matter of fact for the jury to decide.

Impact on the Serious Fraud Office

The recent acquittals represent a significant setback for the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which brought the original charges. While the SFO did not contest the appeals of the five Barclays bankers, it did contest Bittar’s appeal, stating his conviction was safe.

Jason Williams, head of division at the SFO, said: "We argued for a different outcome but respect the court’s decision in relation to Christian Bittar. The SFO remains committed to tackling the most complex fraud, bribery and corruption."

Bittar’s lawyer, Adrian Darbishire, argued that his client’s guilty plea was founded on fundamental errors of law because prosecutors had not been required to prove a factual element of the charge against him. Ben Rose of law firm Hickman and Rose, who also represented Bittar, stated it was a "scandal that the SFO has consistently failed to uphold its duty to ensure that these trials are fair."

Remaining Convictions

The rate-rigging scandal, which erupted in 2012, involved banks misrepresenting their positions during the setting of lending rates like Libor and Euribor. These rates affect the value of pensions, mortgages, and savings, as well as trillions of pounds and euros worth of financial products.

Some 19 City traders were convicted in the US and UK between 2015 and 2019. According to the BBC, 18 of these have now been acquitted. Only one former trader remains convicted: Peter Johnson, a former Barclays trader who pleaded guilty in 2014. Johnson has applied to appeal against his conviction.

Why it matters

The overturning of these convictions has prompted lawyers and politicians to call for the release of records regarding the roles of the Bank of England and the Treasury in interest rate setting during the financial crisis. Former Conservative cabinet minister David Davis described the exonerated traders as "victims of a scapegoating exercise," alleging that the government had engaged in its own misbehavior by "lowballing" Libor rates to rescue the economy. The SFO has faced increasing scrutiny over the fairness of the original trials, with all convictions in the United States having been overturned in 2022 due to insufficient evidence.

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Sources

• bbc.com: One more ex-banker jailed for rigging rates has conviction overturned
• theguardian.com: Ex-Deutsche Bank trader has conviction for rigging interest rates quashed | Libor | The Guardian
• devdiscourse.com: Ex-Deutsche Bank top trader's rate-rigging conviction quashed

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.