On 23rd October, Mark Johnson, the former head of
global cash foreign exchange trading at HSBC, was found guilty by a
New York jury. The former British banker is the first person to be
prosecuted and found guilty of fraud in relation to London-based
foreign exchange manipulation.
His former employer, HSBC, is in settlement talks with US
regulators and the Department of Justice (DoJ) over the issue,
while former employees of Barclays, Citigroup and JP Morgan are
awaiting trial in New York on similar charges concerning other
alleged instances of FX manipulation in the London market.
After a month long trial, Johnson was convicted of nine charges
of wire fraud and conspiracy, each carrying a maximum potential
prison sentence of 20 years. Specifically, the charges related to
him fraudulently profiting from a $3.5bn (£2.7bn) foreign
exchange trade for UK-based Cairn Energy by front-running the
deal.
