U.S. and Five Banks Agree on Guilty Pleas to Settle Manipulating LIBOR Charges

                On May 20, 2015, the U.S. government and five major banks – Citicorp, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays PLC, The Royal Bank of Scotland plc and UBS AG – have agreed to plead guilty to felony charges.  Citicorp, JPMorgan Chase &Co., Barclays PLC, and The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS) have agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to manipulate the price of U.S. dollars and euros exchanged in the foreign currency exchange (FX) spot market and the banks have agreed to pay criminal fines totaling more than $2.5 billion.  A fifth bank, UBS AG, has agreed to plead guilty to manipulating the London Interbank offered Rate (LIBOR)and other benchmark interest rates and pay a $203 million criminal penalty, after breaching its December 2012 non-prosecution agreement resolving the LIBOR investigation.[1]