The UK Supreme Court will spend most of this week hearing a rare criminal appeal by two former traders who worked in the financial markets. Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo both served substantial prison sentences for conspiracy to defraud after they were convicted, in separate trials, of rigging interest rates.
Their cases were referred to the Court of Appeal in 2023 by the Criminal Cases Review Commission after a leading court in the United States decided that similar behaviour would not have been illegal in the US.
Although the Court of Appeal dismissed their appeals a year ago, it later agreed to certify that the cases raised points of law of general public importance.
That gave the Supreme Court the option of hearing a further appeal, which it later agreed to do. The three-day hearing opens tomorrow and will be live-streamed.
For this week’s episode of A Lawyer Talks, I’ve been discussing the issues — and the former traders’ chances of success — with Charles Kuhn, a regulatory and financial crime partner at the London offices of Clyde & Co. My weekly podcast is a bonus for paying subscribers to A Lawyer Writes. Everyone else can hear a short taster by clicking the ► symbol above.