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Barclays dodges US charges in ex-trader's 'front-running' case

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Barclays dodges US charges in ex-trader's 'front-running' case

The U.S. Department of Justice said it will not pursue criminal action against Barclays Plc over allegations that one of its former traders conspired to defraud Hewlett-Packard Co. through a method called front-running, Bloomberg News reported.

The matter relates to Robert Bogucki, former head of Barclays unit Barclays Capital Inc.'s New York foreign exchange trading operation, who was charged in February with conspiracy and wire-fraud charges in connection with a foreign exchange transaction carried out by Barclays in 2011 on HP's behalf.

As part of a deal with the DOJ, the British lender agreed to pay roughly $13 million in restitution and disgorgement, the report noted. The deal highlights the DOJ's new approach that gives companies incentives for self-reporting misconduct and cooperating with ongoing investigations.

In its decision, federal prosecutors noted Barclays' timely and voluntary self-disclosure of the misconduct as well as its full cooperation with investigators on the probe, including providing information about Bogucki and other individuals. The bank was also rewarded for taking measures to fix its internal controls, the report added.

In comparison, HSBC Holdings Plc in January agreed to pay $101.5 million in penalties to resolve a similar front-running investigation and entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement with the DOJ.

Benjamin Singer, chief of the DOJ's securities and financial fraud unit, said that HSBC did not self-report the misconduct.

"We found out about it by interviewing their employees, so that's not good," Singer said, according to the report updated March 2.