Cleared City traders blame 'purge' as they hit out at rate-rigging prosecutions

The city traders wrongfully convicted in the aftermath of the financial crisis have spoken out about their decade-long battle for justice, claiming they were scapegoats.

Tom Hayes was the first of nine traders to be prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office. In 2012, he was accused of rigging Libor - an interest rate on loans and financial contracts that was used throughout the financial system.

The rate was determined daily, based on submissions from several large banks. Money latest: One million owed refunds from HMRC Mr Hayes was originally sentenced to 14 years in jail, one of the toughest sentences ever handed out for white collar crime.

He served more than five years in prison, including at the high security prison Belmarsh. Speaking to Sky News after the Supreme Court overturned the conviction, Mr Hayes said: "I came out [of prison] to a son who was nine years old who I left when he was three.

My marriage broke down whilst I was in prison. My mental health broke down while I was in prison." Mr Hayes said he was made responsible for damage caused by the financial crisis.

"There was this zeitgeist that existed where they wanted to send bankers to prison... we were unlucky," he said.

He was joined by Carlo Palombo, who was convicted in 2019 for rigging Euribor, the Euro Libor rate. Mr Palombo said he spent most of his days in a small cell that he shared with another inmate at Wandsworth Prison.

He said he was the victim of a "purge" by banks and regulators as they sought to absolve themselves of the consequences of the crash. "The stuff of which I was accused and convicted was something that was done completely openly by absolutely every single person… it was just a normal business practice of the bank," he said.

Supreme Court judges said the two men did not receive fair trials because the juries were misdirected in the original cases. Essentially, they had been told their behaviour was dishonest without reaching that conclusion themselves.

Both men are now trying to move on with their lives. Mr Hayes said he wanted to move to the sea and rebuild his family..