In short
Rubbish Talk rates the BBC's headline that an "ex-Deutsche Bank trader jailed for rigging rates has conviction overturned" a 1/10 because the Court of Appeal did, in fact, quash Christian Bittar's 2018 Euribor-rigging conviction on 9 October 2026, exactly as stated.
The Verdict
Base fact. The headline is a plain, accurate description of a court ruling that happened that day, with no loaded verbs, no spun denominator, and no buried reversal. If anything it understates the scale of the story, since the article itself reveals Bittar is the eighth of nine convicted rate-riggers now cleared, leaving the headline on the cautious side rather than the sensational one.
What actually happened
The Court of Appeal quashed Christian Bittar's 2018 guilty-plea conviction for conspiring to rig Euribor, the euro interbank lending rate. The ruling followed a Supreme Court decision in July 2025 that found trial judges had wrongly directed juries in the original Libor/Euribor prosecutions, and came two days after the same court overturned five former Barclays traders' convictions in the same scandal.
Key facts
- Bittar had his conviction overturned by the Court of Appeal on a Friday after being sentenced to five years in prison for rigging Euribor, having previously pleaded guilty to the charge.
- Bittar brought his appeal after the Supreme Court overturned Hayes' and Palombo's convictions, with his lawyer arguing he had pleaded guilty on the wrong legal basis.
- Bittar's appeal followed the Court of Appeal overturning the convictions of five former Barclays traders two days earlier.
- Launching its investigation in 2012, the SFO prosecuted 20 people, with seven convicted at trial, two pleading guilty and 11 acquitted across London trials between 2015 and 2019, and per the article supplied, 18 of 19 convicted traders worldwide have now been acquitted, leaving only Peter Johnson still convicted.
- The Serious Fraud Office said it respected the court's decision in relation to Bittar while remaining committed to tackling complex fraud, bribery and corruption, having opposed the appeal rather than conceded it.
What to watch for
Peter Johnson, the last remaining convicted trader, has now applied to appeal, which would effectively zero out the entire original slate of 19 Libor/Euribor convictions if successful. Watch too for how outlets handle the Bank of England/Treasury disclosure angle the article raises, since claims of central-bank "rigging" are a separate, unverified line of reporting that deserves its own scrutiny rather than being folded into this straightforward court-ruling story.
