Serious Fraud Office responds as Court of Appeal overturns further bank rate convictions

These benchmark rates historically affected the value of hundreds of trillions of dollars worth of financial products globally, including ordinary pensions, mortgages and savings. The initial SFO inquiry resulted in nine convictions of senior bankers for fraud offences, divided between two guilty pleas and seven verdicts delivered by juries.

Legal developments accelerated after the Supreme Court ruled that jury directions given by trial judges in the cases of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo were incorrect, leading to their convictions being deemed unsafe. Although the Supreme Court found there was ample evidence on which a properly directed jury could have convicted Hayes and Palombo, the SFO decided that seeking retrials was not in the public interest, citing factors such as the prison sentences already served by the defendants.

Following that judgment, the prosecuting authority reviewed other cases potentially affected by the same legal issues. The SFO previously assessed that jury directions applied in the trials of Jonathan Mathew, Jay Merchant, Alex Pabon, Philippe Moryoussef and Colin Bermingham meant their convictions might also be considered unsafe.

On 7 October 2026, the Court of Appeal formally overturned the convictions of those five individuals after the SFO chose not to oppose their appeals. A further ruling on 9 October 2026 overturned the conviction of Christian Bittar, who had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud.

Jason Williams, Head of Division at the Serious Fraud Office, noted that the authority had argued for a different outcome regarding Christian Bittar but respected the decision of the court. The SFO reaffirmed its commitment to investigating and prosecuting the most complex cases of economic crime, fraud, bribery and corruption affecting the United Kingdom.