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Interesting discussion on Tom Hayes, the man who was convicted of manipulating LIBOR( One of the more important borrowing rates). The article seems to play up
by chollida1 11y ago
Interesting discussion on Tom Hayes, the man who was convicted of manipulating LIBOR( One of the more important borrowing rates).
The article seems to play up Hayes' Asperger’s as almost an excuse as to why he could do what he did with little emotion.
Just like breaking into a computer system, he used human engineering rather than hacking to rig LIBOR in his favor. He litterally became friends with the people who helped set LIBOR and asked them to help set LIBOR in the direction he wanted.
> For Hayes, it was a light-bulb moment. He knew that banks had always tailored their Libor submissions to benefit their own positions, but the system resisted tampering: no single institution could have much impact on the overall rate when 15 other banks were doing the same thing. But Hayes had worked at enough banks and befriended so many brokers that he realized he could sway several submitters at once. He could pull their strings without them even knowing it. And Hayes was on better terms with his brokers than most. They had in Hayes a kindred spirit—a state school Londoner with a cockney accent.
- youngtaff 11y agoI think the harsh reality is he was a foot soldier, and the people who encouraged him got away (so far)
- deelowe 11y agoYeah. I find it hard to believe he just did this via some serendipitous realization. Doesn't pass the sniff test.
- marcusgarvey 11y agoYou guessed it. Hayes actually submitted as evidence a UBS instruction manual on rigging the rate. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-18/ubs-gave-out-instruction-manual-on-fixing-libor-hayes-said http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-18/ubs-gave-o...
- WillPostForFood 11y agoThat's conflating two issues - UBS was setting their own number in their own interest. Hayes was bribing people at other banks to manipulate the rate. Both are bad, but Hayes was in another class of bad.
- marcusgarvey 11y agoI disagree. Was Hayes acting solely on his own behalf, or on theirs as well? Were these or other attempts to manipulate Libor sanctioned by UBS? From another article: "The document [that Hayes points to] instructs Libor submitters to clear their judgements on the rate with certain named traders. Defence lawyer Neil Hawes last week suggested the traders held derivatives positions dependent on Libor." http://www.risk.net/operational-risk-and-regulation/news/2417331/hayes-ubs-libor-guide-proves-bank-threw-him-under-the-bus http://www.risk.net/operational-risk-and-regulation/news/241...
- cm2187 11y agoMerely executing orders doesn't make a hitman less of a criminal.
- notahacker 11y agoNot to mention that (as I understand it), he wasn't even trying to play the Nuremberg defence so much as claiming he'd assumed it was OK because people that could have didn't try to stop him.
- something123 11y agowell also b/c at the most you have just your job on the line... I think the idea behind the Nuremberg defense is that you can't refuse orders b/c it's the military and refusing orders can be punishable by death
- swalsh 11y agoThe only relevance his Asperger's had seems to be his uninhibited talking about his manipulation which probably helped lead to his conviction.