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This is Part 2 of our two-part discussion with Tom Hayes, the now vindicated former English banker, who we first spoke with in April 2025.  At the time of that earlier discussion with Tom, in Part 1 of this series, Tom was awaiting a decision of the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court on the appeal of his August 2015 conviction, arising from his work submitting rates, on behalf of his employer, a bank, that were used to determine the London Interbank Offered Rate (or, LIBOR)—a benchmark rate, to which many other financial instruments were connected.
The allegation was that Tom, and others, had manipulated their submission of rates to benefit the financial institutions they worked for.  For that conduct—what the prosecution characterized as a “manipulation” of LIBOR—Tom was sentenced to 14 years in prison, subsequently reduced to 11 years in prison, of which he ultimately served about 5. 
But a parallel prosecution in the United States against two other traders, brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, was dismissed, following a favorable decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 2022.  At the time of our discussion with Tom in Part 1, the United Kingdom remained the only jurisdiction that viewed Tom’s conduct as criminal.  That is, until his conviction—and the conviction of another trader, Carlo Palumbo—were overturned by a unanimous UK Supreme Court on July 23, 2025.  We caught up with Tom after this tremendous reprieve.

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This is the first episode in our two-part discussion with Tom Hayes, who we first spoke with in April 2025.  At the time of our first discussion with Tom, recorded in Part 1 of this series, Tom was awaiting a decision of the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court on the appeal of his August 2015 conviction, arising from his work submitting rates on behalf of bank he worked for, which were used to determine the London Interbank Offered Rate (or, LIBOR)—a benchmark rate, to which many other financial instruments were connected.
In Part 1, we hear from Tom about his fall from the high-end life of an international banker earning a handsome salary in Japan, and how it all came to a screeching halt on August 3, 2015.  On that day, Tom was convicted by a jury, in the United Kingdom, of a conspiracy to defraud.  The allegation was that Tom and others had submitted rates to benefit the financial institutions they worked for, instead of providing more accurate rates.  For that conduct—what the prosecution characterized as a “manipulation” of LIBOR—Tom was sentenced to 14 years in prison, subsequently reduced to 11 years in prison, of which he ultimately served about 5.

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In the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, home to Philadelphia and its surrounding counties, the U.S. Attorney is David Metcalf.  We spoke shortly after the end of the government shutdown, at a time when the U.S. Department of Justice is under great scrutiny.  The job of U.S. Attorney is always challenging, and even more so in the current climate, so we appreciated U.S. Attorney Metcalf generously sharing his time and thoughts with JustPod listeners.

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Mark Loughney’s art has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art (“MoMa PS-1”), and published in The New Yorker and The Atlantic.  His black-and-white ink drawings evoke a mix of M.C. Escher and Salvadore Dali, with surreal landscapes and bizarre figures.  But Loughney is also well known for his series of prison portraits.  They’re prison portraits, not only because they depict prisoners, but also because they were drawn when Loughney himself was serving a 10-year sentence as an inmate at Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution – Dallas.  That is where Loughney’s portraiture blossomed, and his exhibitions began.

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[For a complementary audio excerpt of Gary Tyler’s book, narrated by Cary Hite, describing the point when Tyler is considering accepting a government plea agreement, and starting life outside Angola, listen here.  Copyright © 2025 by Gary Tyler. Audio excerpt courtesy of Simon & Schuster. Audio read by Cary Hite, from the audiobook Stitching Freedom by Gary Tyler, published by Simon & Schuster Audio, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Used with permission from Simon & Schuster, Inc.]

In 1974, at the age of 16, Gary Tyler, who is African American, and was born in St. Rose Parish, Louisiana, was convicted by an all-white jury of a crime he did not commit:  the murder of a white teenager.  Tyler was sentenced to death.  He was sent to Louisiana’s infamous Angola prison, where he was the youngest person on death row in the United States.  A song by the British reggae band, UB40, titled in his name, “Tyler,” captures the injustice.  
But Gary Tyler survived to tell the tale, and to write a magnificent book about his life experience:  Stitching Freedom:  A True Story of Injustice, Defiance, and Hope in Angola Prison, written with Ellen Bravo, and published by Simon and Schuster.  
Gary Tyler was released from custody in 2016, having spent four decades in prison.  Despite the compelling evidence of his innocence, he has never been exonerated.  We had the honor of recording our discussion with Gary on October 6, the day before his book’s release, and the October 7 anniversary of his arrest, decades later.