Tom Hayes loses appeal
The business news that matters
Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Off to Lunch…
The Court of Appeal has rejected an attempt by Tom Hayes to overturn his conviction for Libor-rigging.
Hayes was sentenced to 14 years in prison for rigging Libor in 2015. He was one of the only bankers to be sent to prison after the financial crisis. Libor is the interest rate at which banks lend money to each other.
Hayes spent more than five years in prison before being released. Since then he has been fighting to clear his name.
His case was sent to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which reviews potential miscarriages of justice. The appeal was anchored around a ruling in the US that implied rigging Libor was not a crime. However, the Court of Appeal decided that the US ruling "is not, and could not be, relevant" to UK law.
Hayes worked for UBS and Citibank. He appealed his conviction alongside Carlo Palombo, a former Barclays trader.
Hayes’s story is remarkable and I highly recommend listening to our podcast interview with him. We initially published the episode in late 2022 and it provides all the background to this story. It is a story of how events in a business can spiral out of control. Hayes speaks with brutal honesty about his career, the trial, life in prison and the efforts to clear his name. You can listen to the episode via the link below…
Podcast…
The latest episode of our Business Leader podcast looks at how Duncan Clark went from an environmental journalist at The Guardian to the centre of one of the fastest-growing tech companies in the world - Canva, which offers free online tools for graphic design and has been valued at $40 billion (£32 billion). This is the story of how he built a business, sold it to Canva, and is now leading the company’s ambitious expansion plans in Europe
You can listen to the episode on Substack here, Spotify here and Apple here
Other stories that matter…
1. Almost eight million jobs in the UK could be replaced by artificial intelligence technology, according to research from the Institute for Public Policy Research. Story here and full report here
2. The Bank of England is concerned that businesses in the UK could be hurt by a drop in funding from the private equity industry. Private equity firms are battling with higher costs on the money they borrow due to a rise in interest rates over the last two years. You can read a story by the Financial Times on this here and find the full report by the Bank’s financial policy committee here
3. An interesting piece from retail expert (and former Business Leader podcast guest) Ian Shepherd on how changes to UK planning laws could really help the high streets across the country. “The bottom line is that there is a different outcome possible for our towns and cities,” he writes. “One where there are a much broader range of shops, bars, cafes and hospitality venues nearer to where you live. Where more people can walk or use public transport to get to work and to shop, eat and live. Where communities are more connected together and it is easier to serendipitously run into someone you know and harder to feel isolated.” You can find the full piece here
4. A new book by psychologist Jonathan Haidt claims that smartphones have caused growing levels of anxiety among children and rising mental health problems in countries around the world. The author David Epstein has interviewed him about the book. “We’ve overprotected our children in the real world, and we've underprotected them online,” he says. You can read this interview here
5. Technological developments and the unique approach of Elon Musk have led to a dramatic fall in how much it costs to launch a rocket into space. The Faster, Please! tech newsletter has done a big case study on how this happened. You can read it here
The new Business Leader…
The new Business Leader website and magazine have now launched. We are building a new inspirational, aspirational and agenda-setting business publication for the UK. You can read our analysis, interviews and expert columnists on our website by clicking the image below. Our new magazine is now available in shops and you can subscribe to your own print or digital version by clicking here
And finally…
It’s 25 years ago this month that The Gruffalo was published. Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s children’s book has become a publishing phenomenon, selling more than 11 million copies worldwide. I have lost count of the number of times I have read this book, as I suspect many parents have. The Economist has looked at the story behind the global success of the book. You can read the piece here
Thanks for reading. If you enjoy Off to Lunch then please share it with others and spread the word. If this newsletter was shared with you then please sign-up below to get Off to Lunch sent directly to your inbox