Britain's Serious Fraud office said on Monday it would next month charge 11 individuals accused of rigging the Euribor interest benchmark with conspiracy to defraud. In the latest phase of a global investigation into allegations of manipulating benchmark interest rates, the 11 individuals, all former or current employees of Barclays and Deutsche Bank except one, will appear at Westminster Magistrates' court on January 11, the SFO said in a statement.
The SFO named 10 of the individuals last month. On Monday, it added Stephane Esper, who it said was an employee of Societe Generale. The 10 men and one woman will face the first criminal proceedings for alleged manipulation of the Euribor benchmark. Authorities have been working to lay more charges against those they allege fixed rates such as Libor, the London interbank offered rate, and its euro equivalent Euribor. The criminal trials that have already taken place have shed light on banker practices before, during and after the 2007-2009 financial crisis.
Esper has been notified of the criminal proceedings, an SFO spokeswoman said. A spokeswoman for Societe Generale in Paris had no immediate comment. Of the other 10 accused, those who once worked or still work for Deutsche Bank were named as Christian Bittar, Achim Kraemer, Andreas Hauschild, Joerg Vogt, Ardalan Gharagozlou and Kai-Uwe Kappauf. Former Barclays bankers were named as Colin Bermingham, Carlo Palombo, Philippe Moryoussef and Sisse Bohart, a woman.