Latest news with #SFO
San Francisco Chronicle
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
S.F.'s most famous pizza spot has opened a new location — with $10.50 slices
Each week, critic MacKenzie Chung Fegan shares some of her favorite recent bites, the dishes and snacks and baked goods that didn't find their way into a full review. Want the list a few days earlier? Sign up for her free newsletter, Bite Curious. I just so happened to be catching a flight out of SFO's Terminal 1 last week during the grand opening of the SF Eats food court. As I waited for my egg and cheese from Napa Farms Market, SFO communications employees circled with cameras and cell phones, capturing content. The most noteworthy business in the food court is an outpost of Tony's Pizza Napoletana, the perennially popular North Beach restaurant from champion pizzaiolo Tony Gemignani. Look, the slices are great — a real middle finger to airport Sbarros everywhere — but they are also $10.50. Airport prices will never not take my breath away. Japantown's newest coffee shop is located on the ground floor of the New People building on Post Street. Best Boy Electric was lively on a recent weekday afternoon, with groups of students perched on stools, sipping matcha lattes and talking about restaurants (sorry for eavesdropping, it's my job). I opted for the Okinawa brown sugar latte — not too sweet, despite the name — and a slice of pistachio-huckleberry coffee cake from Loquat Bakery. There are also mochi muffins from Third Culture Bakery and assorted pastries from The Midwife and the Baker. Earlier this week, Shuggie's announced that it's phasing out pizza, the backbone of its food-waste-fighting menu, to make room for more seasonal, creative dishes. If the new stone fruit and tomato salad ($17) is a harbinger of things to come, we're in luck. It's so vivid and juicy that you will not care that said stone fruit and tomatoes are blemished, rescued from the farmers market discard pile. You won't be able to see much of the apricots and tomatoes anyway, buried as they are under an avalanche of seasoned peanuts and slightly bruised herbs. It's a bright, Southeast Asian-leaning take on the summeriest of salads.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Jailed traders mount bid to quash conviction after Supreme Court ruling
Four traders who were jailed for rate-rigging are to appeal their convictions after the Supreme Court quashed similar charges in a landmark case. Jay Merchant, Jonathan Mathew, Philippe Moryoussef and Christian Bittar are all seeking acquittal on appeal, lawyers for the four men said. It follows the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, two former investment bank traders, on charges of rigging Libor and Euribor respectively. The pair were found to have not received a fair trial because of how the jury was directed. The convictions came after an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in the aftermath of the financial crisis into claims that traders were manipulating key interest rate benchmarks by submitting false information to the market. Overall, the case led to nine convictions for fraud, with two traders pleading guilty and the rest found guilty by juries. Merchant and Mathew were ex-Barclays traders found guilty of conspiracy to defraud in 2016 after a three-month trial at Southwark Crown Court. The judge ruled that the pair had conspired to manipulate the London interbank offered rate, known as Libor, which was once used to price more than £270tn of financial products globally. Mathew was given a four-year sentence, while Merchant was given a six and a half years. Merchant, who was born in India, renounced his British citizenship and was deported in 2018. Moryoussef, also an ex-Barclays trader, and Christian Bittar, who formerly worked for Deutsche Bank, were found guilty of conspiracy to defraud in relation to the euro interbank offered rate, known in the City as Euribor. Moryoussef was sentenced in 2018 to eight years in jail, with the judge saying: 'Greed was clearly his principal motivation. Although his income was more than generous by anyone's standards, he thought he deserved more.' Bittar was sentenced to five years and four months. On Thursday night, a lawyer representing the group said: 'Following the Supreme Court's landmark decision yesterday to quash the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, all four of our clients now intend to appeal against their convictions.' Mr Hayes, who served five and a half years in prison for fraud, said after the Supreme Court ruling that all those jailed on similar charges to his should have their convictions overturned. The SFO, which was contacted for comment, said earlier this week: 'We have considered this judgment and the full circumstances carefully and determined it would not be in the public interest for us to seek a retrial.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Jailed traders mount bid to quash conviction after Supreme Court ruling
Four traders who were jailed for rate-rigging are to appeal their convictions after the Supreme Court quashed similar charges in a landmark case. Jay Merchant, Jonathan Mathew, Philippe Moryoussef and Christian Bittar are all seeking acquittal on appeal, lawyers for the four men said. It follows the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, two former investment bank traders, on charges of rigging Libor and Euribor respectively. The pair were found to have not received a fair trial because of how the jury was directed. The convictions came after an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in the aftermath of the financial crisis into claims that traders were manipulating key interest rate benchmarks by submitting false information to the market. Overall, the case led to nine convictions for fraud, with two traders pleading guilty and the rest found guilty by juries. Merchant and Mathew were ex-Barclays traders found guilty of conspiracy to defraud in 2016 after a three-month trial at Southwark Crown Court. The judge ruled that the pair had conspired to manipulate the London interbank offered rate, known as Libor, which was once used to price more than £270tn of financial products globally. Mathew was given a four-year sentence, while Merchant was given a six and a half years. Merchant, who was born in India, renounced his British citizenship and was deported in 2018. Moryoussef, also an ex-Barclays trader, and Christian Bittar, who formerly worked for Deutsche Bank, were found guilty of conspiracy to defraud in relation to the euro interbank offered rate, known in the City as Euribor. Moryoussef was sentenced in 2018 to eight years in jail, with the judge saying: 'Greed was clearly his principal motivation. Although his income was more than generous by anyone's standards, he thought he deserved more.' Bittar was sentenced to five years and four months. On Thursday night, a lawyer representing the group said: 'Following the Supreme Court's landmark decision yesterday to quash the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, all four of our clients now intend to appeal against their convictions.' Mr Hayes, who served five and a half years in prison for fraud, said after the Supreme Court ruling that all those jailed on similar charges to his should have their convictions overturned. The SFO, which was contacted for comment, said earlier this week: 'We have considered this judgment and the full circumstances carefully and determined it would not be in the public interest for us to seek a retrial.'
Mint
6 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Tom Hayes Libor Victory Puts Convictions in $10 Billion Scandal at Risk
(Bloomberg) -- It was an era-defining prosecution for the UK's white collar crime agency. When star trader Tom Hayes was found guilty of rigging a benchmark interest rate in 2015, it set off a raft of other investigations of bankers and traders across the City of London. For the Serious Fraud Office, desperate to highlight that it could hold bankers to account, these actions marked a high-water point. On top of that, regulators made headlines by wringing global fines of almost $10 billion from a dozen banks and brokerages. Now, Hayes' success in quashing his conviction at the UK Supreme Court has upended it all and hit the SFO's reputation. It also raises questions about other convictions in the scandal. 'This result not only clears Mr. Hayes' and Mr. Palombo's names, but could also lead to convictions secured in,' other trials prosecuted by the SFO being reviewed, said Caroline Greenwell, a partner at law firm Charles Russell Speechlys. Hayes, who worked at UBS Group AG, was one of nine individuals convicted by UK authorities for manipulating rates tied to trillions of dollars of loans and securities around the world. With the public still dealing with the repercussions of the 2008 financial crisis – from austerity to job losses and a collapse in property prices – the cases became a high-profile emblem for the banker greed many blamed for what had happened. Ex-Barclays Plc trader Carlo Palombo, who also had his conviction overturned, addressed that very point on Wednesday, saying that the rate-rigging defendants were cast as 'dishonest greedy bankers.' 'We were accused of things that didn't make sense,' he told a press conference. 'We were caught up in this Kafka-esque nightmare.' Hayes' case was by far the most famous in the Libor scandal, but just a year after his trial, three others Barclays, Jonathan Mathew, Jay Merchant and Alex Pabon, were convicted of similar rigging charges involving the benchmark. Another Barclays banker, Peter Johnson, had pleaded guilty in 2014 as part of the case. A string of further convictions of traders accused of rigging the Euro interbank rate followed. The quashing of the convictions 'raises the very real spectre that all the other convictions relating' to the rate rigging cases 'are also miscarriages of justice,' Robert Newcombe, a criminal barrister, said. Speaking after the ruling, Hayes also pushed the idea that the other bankers involved in the scandal could benefit. 'A guilty plea doesn't mean that they are guilty,' he said. 'All those convictions need to go, including those people that pled guilty off the back of the fact that they felt like they couldn't have a fair trial in this country.' The SFO, which both prosecutes and investigates the most serious white-collar crime in Britain, had opposed Hayes' appeal the entire way through the process, maintaining the convictions were secured fairly. It said in a statement it will 'ensure all those convicted in related cases are aware of the judgment.' 'It is a matter for them as to any steps they wish to take,' it added. Libor had been a constant — but largely unknown — presence in financial markets before it became associated with the financial crisis. It was used to determine the price of everything from interest-rate swaps to mortgages and credit card rates. Setting the reference rate was in the power of a handful of traders at a group of 16 of the world's largest banks. Each morning across the City of London at around 11 a.m., they had the task of submitting the rate at which banks were charged for lending to one another. Once submitted, the top and bottom 25% of submissions would be removed and the remaining numbers averaged. The rate was supposed to reflect banks' cost of borrowing from one another — but by making artificially higher or lower submissions, traders could affect the final rate to the benefit of their trading positions. Hayes' 2015 conviction followed a two-month London trial where he was found guilty of working with traders and brokers to game Libor. He had been a star performer at UBS in Tokyo from 2006 until 2009, when he joined Citigroup Inc. He was dismissed by the American bank less than a year later as the Libor scandal began to widen. In its decision Wednesday, the UK Supreme Court said the Hayes jury had been misdirected by a judge, who was wrong to say that a bank's commercial reasons couldn't play a part in a rate submission. It also said that 'jury directions given in later cases, including at the trial of Mr. Palombo, followed in material respects those given at the trial of Mr. Hayes.' That will give other traders hope. For the SFO, the landmark ruling is a blow to its reputation. It's a 'sharp repudiation of the way benchmark manipulation prosecutions have been conducted over the past decade,' said David Hamilton, a partner at London law firm Howard Kennedy who's primary areas include fraud and business crime. 'This decision will reverberate across financial crime enforcement.' --With assistance from Hillary Boye Doku. (Updates with additional comment from Hayes. Earlier versions of this story corrected the day of the court decision and an error in a graphic.) More stories like this are available on
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Business Standard
6 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Tom Hayes Libor victory puts convictions in $10 billion scandal at risk
By Jonathan Browning and Lucca de Paoli It was an era-defining prosecution for the UK's white collar crime agency. When star trader Tom Hayes was found guilty of rigging a benchmark interest rate in 2015, it set off a raft of other investigations of bankers and traders across the City of London. For the Serious Fraud Office, desperate to highlight that it could hold bankers to account, these actions marked a high-water point. On top of that, regulators made headlines by wringing global fines of almost $10 billion from a dozen banks and brokerages. Now, Hayes' success in quashing his conviction at the UK Supreme Court has upended it all and hit the SFO's reputation. It also raises questions about other convictions in the scandal. 'This result not only clears Mr. Hayes' and Mr. Palombo's names, but could also lead to convictions secured in,' other trials prosecuted by the SFO being reviewed, said Caroline Greenwell, a partner at law firm Charles Russell Speechlys. Financial crisis Hayes, who worked at UBS Group AG, was one of nine individuals convicted by UK authorities for manipulating rates tied to trillions of dollars of loans and securities around the world. With the public still dealing with the repercussions of the 2008 financial crisis – from austerity to job losses and a collapse in property prices – the cases became a high-profile emblem for the banker greed many blamed for what had happened. Ex-Barclays Plc trader Carlo Palombo, who also had his conviction overturned, addressed that very point on Wednesday, saying that the rate-rigging defendants were cast as 'dishonest greedy bankers.' 'We were accused of things that didn't make sense,' he told a press conference. 'We were caught up in this Kafka-esque nightmare.' Hayes' case was by far the most famous in the Libor scandal, but just a year after his trial, three others Barclays, Jonathan Mathew, Jay Merchant and Alex Pabon, were convicted of similar rigging charges involving the benchmark. Another Barclays banker, Peter Johnson, had pleaded guilty in 2014 as part of the case. A string of further convictions of traders accused of rigging the Euro interbank rate followed. The quashing of the convictions 'raises the very real spectre that all the other convictions relating' to the rate rigging cases 'are also miscarriages of justice,' Robert Newcombe, a criminal barrister, said. The SFO, which both prosecutes and investigates the most serious white-collar crime in Britain, had opposed Hayes' appeal the entire way through the process, maintaining the convictions were secured fairly. It said in a statement it will 'ensure all those convicted in related cases are aware of the judgment.' 'It is a matter for them as to any steps they wish to take,' it added. Trader power Libor had been a constant — but largely unknown — presence in financial markets before it became associated with the financial crisis. It was used to determine the price of everything from interest-rate swaps to mortgages and credit card rates. Setting the reference rate was in the power of a handful of traders at a group of 16 of the world's largest banks. Each morning across the City of London at around 11 a.m., they had the task of submitting the rate at which banks were charged for lending to one another. Once submitted, the top and bottom 25 per cent of submissions would be removed and the remaining numbers averaged. The rate was supposed to reflect banks' cost of borrowing from one another — but by making artificially higher or lower submissions, traders could affect the final rate to the benefit of their trading positions. Hayes' 2015 conviction followed a two-month London trial where he was found guilty of working with traders and brokers to game Libor. He had been a star performer at UBS in Tokyo from 2006 until 2009, when he joined Citigroup Inc. He was dismissed by the American bank less than a year later as the Libor scandal began to widen. In its decision Wednesday, the UK Supreme Court said the Hayes jury had been misdirected by a judge, who was wrong to say that a bank's commercial reasons couldn't play a part in a rate submission. It also said that 'jury directions given in later cases, including at the trial of Mr. Palombo, followed in material respects those given at the trial of Mr. Hayes.' That will give other traders hope. For the SFO, the landmark ruling is a blow to its reputation. It's a 'sharp repudiation of the way benchmark manipulation prosecutions have been conducted over the past decade,' said David Hamilton, a partner at London law firm Howard Kennedy who's primary areas include fraud and business crime. 'This decision will reverberate across financial crime enforcement.'
