That certainly is not a slap on the wrist
Tom Hayes, former traders at UBS and Citibank was sentenced to 14 year by a judge today for fraudulently rigging the London Interbank Offered Rate or LIBOR rate fixing. The benchmark rate which is used to price many instruments including interest rate swaps, forward rate agreements, and loans to corporate and individuals/mortgages. was manipulated to benefit his trading positions.
For more details of the trial and Mr. Hayes, the Wall Street Journal has an accessible piece at http://www.wsj.com/articles/tom-hayes-convicted-of-libor-rigging-1438610483
Back in the day, I was on desk that set the LIBOR rates at Citibank and later at CSFB and traded interest rate derivatives as well. I can tell you, there was no rigging back then (although, I had a keen interest on where my colleagues were setting the rates).
The forex market has it's own rigging scandal of course, that is centered on the 4 pm London fixing. Same thing. Different instrument. The theme: collusion to benefit traders. This is probably not the end of criminal charges, but likely just the beginning.
