Convict Libor brokers only if they played 'significant' role, UK jury told

By Kirstin Ridley LONDON (Reuters) - Jurors in Britain's second Libor trial were instructed on Thursday not to convict the six former brokers in the dock unless evidence showed they played a "significant" part in an alleged plot to help convicted trader Tom Hayes rig the benchmark interest rates. Outlining legal directions for the jury and beginning a summary of a trial that began last October, Judge Nicholas Hamblen also told jurors to put prejudice and sympathy aside when deciding the fate of the former ICAP, RP Martin and Tullett Prebon brokers. "You would need to be satisfied that any involvement was not minimal or merely transitory, but something which establishes significant involvement in the continuing conspiracy," he told the jury at London's Southwark Crown Court, which is expected to start considering its verdict next week. Britain's Serious Fraud Office alleges that the six Britons formed a criminal conspiracy to seek dishonest Libor rates by persuading bank clients to submit numbers to the commercial advantage of Hayes, a former UBS and Citigroup trader. Libor, the London interbank offered rate, helps to determine the borrowing costs for trillions of dollars in loans worldwide. Prosecutors presented scores of emails and computer messaging exchanges to the jury in evidence and alleged that Tokyo-based Hayes, who was convicted in August, rewarded brokers with kickbacks and bribes for help in trying to nudge rates to favour his trading positions. Darrell Read, Colin Goodman, Danny Wilkinson, Terry Farr, James Gilmour and Noel Cryan deny the charges. Five of the brokers deny being part of a plot with Hayes and say they exaggerated their influence over Libor rates to fob Hayes off. Only Farr concedes he sought to help Hayes. But the former RP Martin broker, who left school at 15, has said he did not know he was doing anything wrong and had little understanding of derivatives and finance. Wilkinson, meanwhile, has not been in court since he fell ill this month and was admitted to hospital. The men, aged between 44 and 54, are the first brokers to be tried over alleged Libor rigging after a global investigation started focussing on their role when sharing information with networks of traders and matching buyers and sellers of bonds, currencies and swaps, for which they charge a fee. (Editing by David Goodman)