http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/17/investing/barclays-qatar-trial-financial-crisis/index.html
They’re the most senior bankers to face charges in Britain over crimes allegedly committed during the financial crisis.
And now they have a trial date.
Former Barclays CEO John Varley and three top lieutenants will go on trial in January 2019, more than a decade after they orchestrated controversial cash injections from Qatar that saved the bank during the global financial crisis.
The start date for the criminal trial was set Monday in Southwark Crown Court in London.
Lawyers representing Varley declined to comment. Barclays (BCS), which faces related charges, also had no comment.
Varley and the bank’s former head of investment banking in the Middle East, Roger Jenkins, each face two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and one count of unlawful financial assistance.
A lawyer for Jenkins said that his client intends to “vigorously defend against the charges.”
The maximum penalty for a criminal fraud charge in the U.K. is 10 years in jail. Unlawful financial assistance carries a maximum of two years.
Two other former Barclays executives are facing one count of conspiracy to commit fraud each.
Charges were filed in the case last month by the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office. It’s the first time the SFO, which investigates white collar crimes, has charged a bank or its executives over actions taken during the financial crisis.