NY Court grants ex-Deutsche Bank traders’ request to depose former BBA LIBOR Director
Judge Colleen McMahon nixes Government request to cut questions about BBA’s discussions with the Bank of England about LIBOR.
Matthew Connolly and Gavin Campbell Black, former derivative product traders at Deutsche Bank, have managed to secure US Court’s consent to depose John Ewan, ex-LIBOR Director of the British Bankers’ Association (BBA). Importantly, the former traders who stand accused of LIBOR rigging, have also succeeded in retaining the list of questions unchanged in the face of a push by the United States Government to remove the questions about the discussions between the BBA and the Bank of England about LIBOR.
On Tuesday, July 10, 2018, Judge Colleen McMahon of the New York Southern District Court signed an Order approving the request for the deposition. The Order includes a number of conditions.
First, the letter rogatory shall be in the form proposed by the United States Government, except that the Court does not agree to the Government’s proposed alteration of the list of questions to be asked of Mr. Ewan. This means that the question related to the talks between the BBA and the Bank of England about LIBOR will remain on the list.
Second, there will be no delay in the trial of this action. The jury will be selected on September 17, 2018, whether the deposition of Mr Ewan has been concluded or not. The Judge agrees with the Government that the defense has waited until the eleventh hour and fifty ninth minute to make the request for deposition. The request could have been made far earlier than it was.
“This trial has been postponed three times. It will not be postponed a fourth time for any reason”, the Judge stressed.
Finally, the Court ordered the US Government to do everything in its power to facilitate the taking of Mr. Ewan’s deposition in the next two months.
Mr Ewan is expected to offer material testimony concerning the considerations and flexibility allowed by the BBA in the interpretation of the LIBOR definition. According to the defense, he is set to provide exculpatory evidence to counter the Government’s argument that the Deutsche Bank USD LIBOR submissions “were false precisely because they did not conform to the BBA’s definition.”
The case is captioned USA v. Connolly (1:16-cr-00370).
