US: Ex-Barclays trader to face Price-Fixing charges in NY

Jason Katz, a former Barclays currency trader, is scheduled to appear in Manhattan federal court Wednesday to face criminal price-fixing charges, according to his lawyer and court documents.

Details of the case against Katz haven’t been made public. According to the court documents, the case will be filed as a “criminal information,” which is often part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Bob Knuts, Katz’s lawyer, confirmed his client would appear in court but declined to provide further details.

The Justice Department has spearheaded a global investigation into currency-rigging since at least the fall of 2013. In May 2015, four banks — Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland — pleaded guilty to charges that their traders conspired to manipulate trading in US dollars and euros. UBS Group pleaded guilty to a related charge.

Katz spent a year as director of emerging markets-foreign exchange trading at Barclays beginning in 2010, according to regulatory filings and his LinkedIn profile. He joined BNP Paribas in September 2011 as its director of emerging markets-foreign exchange trading, before leaving for Australia & New Zealand Banking Group two years later, the documents show. Before joining Barclays, Katz spent more than nine years at Standard Bank, where he was head of foreign exchange, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Full Content: Bloomberg

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