Former Lloyds trader sues for unfair dismissal after Libor probe
A former Lloyds trader, who was among eight people dismissed after the bank's fine for alleged involvement in libor rigging, has sued the bank for unfair dismissal.
John Argent's hearing will start on October 5, according to a schedule for a London employment tribunal released today.
Lloyds paid £218m in fines to regulators on both sides of the Atlantic in July, over its alleged involvement in the rate-rigging scandal. It also paid £7.8m to the Bank of England for cutting the fees it paid to use its special liquidity service, which the central bank created in 2008 to provide cheap money.
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The state-backed bank subsequently opened an investigation into its traders' behaviour, and announced in September 2014 that it had fired eight employees. A source told Reuters that Argent was one of these people.
"As the matter is subject to ongoing Employment Tribunal proceedings it would be inappropriate for us to comment in detail, other than to say that we do not consider this claim to have merit. The individual concerned was dismissed following a thorough disciplinary process," Lloyds said.
There has been a spate of unfair dismissal suits in London employment courts over the past few weeks, following big banks' firing of people in the wake of the Libor and foreign exchange rate-rigging scandals.