Libor traders cleared of rigging

Verdicts cast doubt over future of SFO director
Noel Cryan, Danny Wilkinson, Terry Farr, Colin Goodman and James Gilmour were found not guilty of conspiracy to defraud. A jury at Southwark crown court was continuing its deliberations against a sixth man
Noel Cryan, Danny Wilkinson, Terry Farr, Colin Goodman and James Gilmour were found not guilty of conspiracy to defraud. A jury at Southwark crown court was continuing its deliberations against a sixth man
BEN PRUCHNIE/GETTY IMAGES

The trial of six brokers accused of rigging Libor ended in defeat for the Serious Fraud Office yesterday when a jury cleared five of the men.

Colin Goodman and Danny Wilkinson, two former Icap workers, James Gilmour and Terry Farr, former employees of RP Martin, and Noel Cryan, a former Tullett Prebon broker, were freed after being found not guilty of involvement in manipulating Japanese yen borrowing rates.

One count against a sixth defendant, Darrell Read, a former Icap broker, was outstanding as the jury considered a charge of conspiracy to defraud. Mr Read was found not guilty on another count of conspiracy to defraud.

The unanimous not guilty verdicts were a blow for the SFO and come as the contract of David Green, its