The Lawyers in the First U.S. Criminal Trial Over LIBOR

On Wednesday, federal prosecutors in Manhattan delivered opening statements to a jury that must decide whether two former Rabobank traders “exploited and abused” their role in helping to set the London interbank offered rate, also known as LIBOR.

It marks the first U.S. trial over alleged LIBOR-rigging, a key benchmark interest rate. The two defendants, Anthony Allen and Anthony Conti, both formerly based in London as Rabobank Groep traders, stand accused of a conspiracy to manipulate benchmark interest rates tied to more than $350 trillion of loans and securities.

In the prosecution’s opening statement, Carol Sipperly said, “These men ... with several others at Rabobank schemed to rig Libor ...