The Court of Appeal overturned former Deutsche Bank trader Christian Bittar’s conviction for conspiring to manipulate benchmark interest rates on Friday, 9 October, after ruling changes prompted by a Supreme Court decision exposed legal errors in the prosecution of traders accused of rigging Euribor and Libor.

Bittar was sentenced to five years and four months in prison in 2018 after pleading guilty to conspiring to manipulate the euro interbank offered rate (Euribor), a benchmark used to determine borrowing costs across financial markets. His successful appeal makes him the eighth person convicted in the UK rate-rigging cases to have their conviction overturned, according to Reuters.

Bittar told Reuters: “I have waited a very, very long time for this day.” He added that he was grateful to those who had supported him and worked to correct what he described as an injustice.

The ruling follows Wednesday’s decision by the Court of Appeal to quash the convictions of five former Barclays traders: Jay Vijay Merchant, Jonathan Mathew, Philippe Moryoussef, Alex Pabon and Colin Bermingham. Their appeals followed a Supreme Court ruling in July 2025 that overturned the convictions of former UBS trader Tom Hayes and former Barclays trader Carlo Palombo.

The Supreme Court found that judges in the original trials had incorrectly directed juries on the law governing requests to influence benchmark rates. Whether traders’ requests were improper depended on the facts of each case, rather than being automatically unlawful, the court ruled.

Bittar’s lawyer, Adrian Darbishire, argued that his client’s guilty plea rested on fundamental errors because prosecutors had not been required to prove that he agreed to the submission of false or misleading Euribor rates. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which prosecuted the original cases, opposed his appeal, maintaining that his conviction was safe.

Jason Williams, head of division at the SFO, said the agency had argued for a different outcome but respected the court’s decision. He added that it remained committed to tackling complex fraud, bribery and corruption.

The convictions arose from investigations into the manipulation of Libor and Euribor, benchmarks that influence borrowing costs across financial products, including mortgages, loans and derivatives. The scandal emerged in 2012, following revelations that traders at major banks had sought to influence rates used to price transactions and assess banks’ borrowing costs.

Former Barclays trader Peter Johnson, who pleaded guilty to conspiring to manipulate Libor in 2014, is now seeking to appeal his conviction. His lawyer, Ellen Gallagher of Vardags, confirmed that provisional grounds for the appeal had been filed.

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