On Wednesday here we reported that the British bank Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) (LON:BARC) had agreed to pay a $450 million settlement from a long U.S. and the UK government regulator investigation of data manipulation by the bank; they had tried to influence the Libor rate.
Regulators determined these actions took place, beginning in 2005. Helping their case was a review of emails between Barclays (known as submitters) and traders. Certain rate requests had been submitted by traders, followed by a figure suggested by Barclays.
Needless to say, traders benefited from the fixed and faux rates.
With Wednesday's settlement came the release of damaging emails. Traders' rate requests came through emails and it appears copies had been retained. The media is having a field day with the emails and on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal shared a few with its readers.