LONDON – Three former brokers at the British financial firm ICAP pleaded not guilty on Friday to criminal charges that they conspired to manipulate a global benchmark interest rate.
Danny Martin Wilkinson and Colin John Goodman entered their pleas in a hearing at Southwark Crown Court in London, while Darrell Paul Read entered his plea via video from New Zealand, where he lives.
Britain’s Serious Fraud Office, which brought the charges, has accused the men of engaging in a conspiracy to defraud in connection with the manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, as it relates to the Japanese yen.
Thirteen former employees of banks or brokerage firms face criminal charges in Britain related to the manipulation of Libor, one of the main rates used to determine the borrowing costs for trillions of dollars in loans. The authorities in the United States have also brought criminal charges against several of the people charged in Britain.
The first criminal trial in the inquiry is expected to begin in Britain in May.
Mr. Read, Mr. Wilkinson and Mr. Goodman are expected to face trial in September, along with three former traders from the British brokerage firms RP Martin and Tullett Prebon Group.
Since it emerged publicly in 2012, the Libor scandal has engulfed some of the world’s largest banks and tarnished the reputations of many of Britain’s leading lenders.
To set Libor and other rates, banks submit the rates at which they would be prepared to lend money to one another, on an unsecured basis, in various currencies and at varying maturities. Investigations have found evidence in the last two years that traders at various banks benefited from falsely reported rates.
The resulting scandal has also set off a call for changes in how other benchmark rates are set, including the rates for currencies and precious metals.
British prosecutors and the Serious Fraud Office have said they have identified as many as 22 people who were potentially involved, but they have named only the 13 people who were criminally charged.