Tom Hayes wins ‘Most Important Court Case of the Year’ at the GIR Awards 2025 in Washington D.C.

Our client, Tom Hayes, won the ‘Most Important Court Case of the Year’ award at the Global Investigations Review Awards 2025, for ‘R v Hayes et al (Libor rigging)’.

Tom Hayes, a former derivatives trader at UBS and Citigroup, became the first individual convicted in the UK for manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). Hayes was accused of dishonestly seeking to influence submissions used to set LIBOR in order to benefit his trading positions. The case, prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office, centred on whether Hayes’ conduct amounted to dishonest manipulation under the common law offence of conspiracy to defraud. He was convicted and sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment, later reduced to 11 on appeal.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court unanimously quashed the conviction of Hayes, and that of Carlo Palombo. The Court held that the jury had been misdirected – specifically, that the trial judge treated as a matter of law the proposition that a submission influenced by a bank’s trading interests could never be genuine or honest.

In fact, any LIBOR number within a true range of borrowing costs could be correct, and the benchmark was set up to allow for banks to take their commercial positions into account when submitting.

The convictions were therefore deemed unsafe because of the unfair trial process.

At the GIR awards ceremony, held at the Four Seasons hotel in Washington DC, Hayes’ lawyer, Karen Todner, said:

“I first met Tom Hayes in the legal visits area at HMP Belmarsh, which is a high security prison in South London, in April 2016 when I was asked to take on his appeal.

“I was so shocked by his appearance because he was dishevelled, bewildered and broken, having been convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 14 years, which was later reduced to 11.

“I was so shocked by his appearance that I called the prison guards over to look after him because I was so worried for his mental health. If you’d have told me that nine years later we’d be standing in The Four Seasons hotel in Washington DC, receiving the case of the year award from Global Investigations Review, I’d have asked the prison guards to come and look after you as well.

“I’m just overwhelmed and so grateful for the recognition that has been involved in taking on this case. There are a few people who should receive specific thanks. They are the barristers, Adrian Darbishire KC and Tom Doble, who have both been utterly fantastic. I can tell you that, at the Supreme Court, to use an Americanism, they knocked the SFO out of the ballpark.

“Sarah Tighe, Tom’s now ex-wife – despite the demise of their marriage, she has been instrumental in obtaining Tom’s acquittal.

“Maltin PR, Tim Maltin ably assisted by the lovely Sian Harrison, who have kept Tom’s case in the public eye.

“There are many others who provided support, including those who contributed to crowdfunding, and those who sent emails and messages of support. I want to say thank you very much to everybody involved in this case – it has been a bumpy ride on a very long rollercoaster, and this, tonight, is definitely one of the highs.

“Lastly, I’d like to say thank you to Tom and Sarah for trusting me with this case. It’s been very hard work and a lesson in tenacity, but it’s also been an honour to have helped you – thank you very much.”

Maltin PR also acted in a second of the five shortlisted cases for ‘Most Important Case of the Year’ globally, when we represented Mark Wainwright in the Trafigura bribery case in Switzerland.

The full list of winners can be found here.

News of this award was also covered in Solicitors Journal, here.