Ex-Barclays trader faces more jail time after failing to pay court

A former Barclays trader faces additional jail time after failing to pay thousands of pounds to a London court following his conviction for manipulating a key global benchmark interest rate, MLex has learned.

Philippe Moryoussef was sentenced to eight years in jail last June for manipulating the Euro Interbank Offered Rate, or Euribor, between 2005 and 2009. He was convicted in his absence after failing to appear at his trial at Southwark Crown Court, and is thought to be living in France.

On Dec. 20, a judge at the same court ordered him to pay 77,354 pounds (around $102,000) as part of his sentence or face an additional three years. Moryoussef was given a maximum three months to pay.

The Serious Fraud Office has now told MLex that the confiscation order hasn’t been paid, despite the deadline passing. It is thought that there will have to be another hearing before any additional jail time is added to his sentence.

Moryoussef was also ordered to pay 597,754 pounds court costs to the SFO as part of his sentence. The SFO confirmed this hadn’t been paid either, but there is no default sentence for non-payment of this money.

He was convicted alongside former Deutsche Bank star trader Christian Bittar, who was jailed for five years and four months after pleading guilty to Euribor manipulation in March last year.

Moryoussef played a "prominent role" in the fraud, prosecutors said last year. The judge said the evidence against him was "overwhelming," and that he was motivated by "greed."

Yesterday, former Barclays trader Carlo Palombo, 40, was convicted on the same charges following a retrial also at Southwark Crown Court, and he could be sentenced this week. His former colleague Sisse Bohart, 41, was cleared of the same charges. The jury is still deliberating the fate of a third trader, Colin Bermingham, 62.

A lawyer for Moryoussef in Paris didn’t respond to a request for comment.