Tom Hayes, who has maintained his innocence, spent five-and-a-half years in prison and was released in January 2021.
A former City trader jailed for rigging the benchmark Libor rate has had his convictions referred to the Court of Appeal.
In 2015, former Citigroup and UBS trader Tom Hayes was convicted of multiple counts of conspiracy to defraud over manipulating the rate previously used to set millions of pounds worth of financial deals, including car loans and mortgages.
In his trial, Hayes was described by prosecution counsel as the “ringmaster” at the centre of an enormous fraud to manipulate the benchmark interest rates and boost his own six-figure earnings.
Hayes, who has maintained his innocence, spent five-and-a-half years in prison and was released in January 2021.
A previous challenge launched by Hayes was rejected in December 2015 by the Court of Appeal, though he succeeded in securing a three-year cut to his original 14-year sentence.
The former trader applied to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) in 2017.
On Thursday, the commission said there is a “real possibility” that the Court of Appeal could overturn his convictions and referred them to the court to be reconsidered.
The commission’s decision comes after a court in the United States overturned the convictions of two other ex-traders, who were jailed in similar circumstances, and charges against Hayes in the US were dropped.
CCRC chairwoman Helen Pitcher said: “We have concluded after a lengthy and complex investigation that the Court of Appeal should clarify whether the right legal approach was taken in Mr Hayes’ case.
“We are committed to leaving no stone unturned in our comprehensive reviews of potential miscarriages of justice.”
