Former Rabobank trader pleads guilty to Libor manipulation

Takayuki Yagami, who specialised in Japanese yen derivatives, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit wire fraud and bank fraud before US District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan, the Justice Department said.

"This was the ultimate inside job," Leslie Caldwell, who heads the Justice Department's criminal division, said. "Traders illegally influenced the very interest rate on which their trades were based, using fraud to gain an unfair advantage."

Last October, Rabobank agreed to pay $1bn to resolve US and European probes into alleged Libor manipulation.

This included a $325m accord with the Justice Department, in which Rabobank entered into a deferred prosecution agreement.

Rabobank was the fifth company to settle with regulators worldwide over Libor manipulation. Others include Barclays, ICAP and Royal Bank of Scotland, as well as Switzerland's UBS.

Nine people have been charged by the Justice Department in connection with the probe, Ms Caldwell said.

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