Ex-trader rigging Libor rates sentenced to 14 years' jail in London

Tom Hayes, former trader in the City of London, has been found guilty at a London court of rigging the global Libor interest rates.

Hayes, the first person to stand trial for manipulating the benchmark interest rates, Monday was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Judge Jeremy Cooke said after he handed out the sentence in London: "Probity and honesty are essential, as is trust. The Libor activities of which you took part in put that in jeopardy. A message needs to be sent to the world of banking."

Hayes, who was originally from Hampshire, England, manipulated the Libor rates daily for nearly four years when he was working in Tokyo for UBS Group AG, then Citigroup Inc, from 2006 until 2010. He was first charged by the United States officials in 2012.

Previously, authorities from both sides of Atlantic have levied 9 billion U.S. dollars in fines against banks and brokerages, including a 1.5 billion dollars penalty for UBS. Citigroup has been censured by Japan's regulators over its involvement.

The verdict against the 35-year-old ex-trader was unanimous.