According to court filings in Connecticut, the 46-year-old ex-trader claims UBS misled U.S. authorities and «offered him up on a silver platter» to prosecutors in order to shield senior management and reduce regulatory penalties.

The complaint alleges the bank portrayed Hayes as the «evil mastermind» behind alleged misconduct, even though he had acted with the knowledge and encouragement of superiors and in line with prevailing industry practice at the time.

Cleared in the UK & the US

UBS was among the first global banks investigated over the manipulation of interbank benchmark rates after 2008. Hayes, who worked for UBS in Tokyo until 2009, was convicted of conspiracy to defraud in London in 2015 and sentenced to 14 years in prison, later reduced to 11.

He spent five and a half years in jail before his conviction was quashed by the UK Supreme Court in July 2025, as reported by finews.com. In its ruling overturning the conviction, the court nevertheless stated that «there was ample evidence on which a jury, properly directed, could have found the appellant guilty of conspiracy to defraud.»

U.S. prosecutors had already dropped their case against Hayes in 2022 after a federal appeals court ruled that taking commercial considerations into account when setting LIBOR was not criminal conduct.

UBS Declines to Comment

In his statement announcing the lawsuit, Hayes said his life had been «ruined by the bank’s actions» and that he intended to donate part of any damages to charities working to overturn miscarriages of justice.

Asked by finews.com, UBS declined to comment. The bank was not a party to the criminal proceedings between the UK Serious Fraud Office and Hayes.