SocGen Execs Are Drawn Into U.S. Libor Probe
- Senior bank leaders received emails about scheme, filings say
- Rare scrutiny of senior people as France declines to cooperate
Photographer: Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg
The U.S. Justice Department’s investigation into interest-rate manipulation at global banks is piercing the executive suite, with prosecutors scrutinizing the activities of senior Societe Generale SA officials, according to people familiar with the matter.
The government has collected documents suggesting Societe Generale executives were aware that bankers there were submitting fake U.S. dollar Libor rates, the people said. Such misleading numbers, which made bank borrowing costs look lower than they actually were, have been the focus of years of U.S. and European investigations, charges against more than a dozen bankers and brokers, and more than $2 billion in U.S. criminal penalties. Yet such allegations have rarely touched global banks’ upper reaches.