Christian Bittar becomes eighth former trader to have LIBOR / EURIBOR conviction quashed
12 Oct 2026
Hickman & Rose’s founding partner Ben Rose has appeared in the media after his client Christian Bittar became the eighth former City trader to have their LIBOR / EURIBOR ‘rate-rigging’ conviction quashed on appeal.
The Court of Appeal’s decision to set aside Mr Bittar’s guilty plea means Ben and his Hickman & Rose colleagues Tom Bushnell and Nisha Patel have represented five of the eight LIBOR / EURIBOR traders whose names have now been cleared.
The firm’s other vindicated clients in this area are Carlo Palombo, cleared at the Supreme Court last year, and Jay Merchant, Jonathan Mathew and Philippe Moryoussef, whose convictions were overturned by the Court of Appeal last Wednesday.
Mr Bittar is the only one of these eight former traders to have previously pleaded guilty.
Speaking outside court on Friday, Ben Rose told how “the decision to set aside Mr Bittar’s guilty plea and quash his conviction illustrates the severity of the injustice he suffered.
“Courts are naturally reluctant to set aside guilty pleas, so I am delighted that the Court of Appeal agreed that, exceptionally, it should do so in this case.
“Christian Bittar pleaded guilty to an offence of alleged rate-rigging following a series of rulings by trial judges and by the Court of Appeal, the effect of which were to wrongly withdraw an essential element of his defence.
“Last year the Supreme Court recognised this error when it quashed the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo.
“It is significant that the Court of Appeal today quashed Christian’s conviction in face of opposition from the SFO.
“That the SFO has consistently failed to uphold its duty to seek to ensure that these trials were fair remains an iissue. It is hard to see how it will learn the lessons it needs to of this saga until it accepts it was wrong.”
Ben Rose, Tom Bushnell and Nisha Patel instructed Adrian Darbishire KC and Tom Doble of QEB Hollis Whiteman, and Katherine Hardcastle of Fountain Court Chambers in Mr Bittar’s appeal.
