Rigged: The Incredible True Story of the Whistleblowers Jailed after Exposing the Rotten Heart of the Financial System

by Andy Verity

Rigged exposes a cover-up at the highest level on both sides of the Atlantic, upending the official story of the biggest scandal since the global financial crisis. It picks up where The Big Short leaves off, as the dark clouds of the financial crisis gather. Banks' health is judged by an interest rate called Libor (the London Interbank Offered Rate). The higher the Libor, the worse off the bank; too high and it's goodnight Vienna. Libor is heading skywards. To save themselves from collapse, nationalisation and loss of bonuses, banks instruct traders to manipulate Libor down – a criminal practice known as lowballing. Outraged, traders turn whistleblowers, alerting the authorities. As Rigged reveals, their instructions come first from top bosses – then from central banks and governments. But when the scandal explodes into the news, prosecutors allow banks to cover up the evidence pointing to the top. Instead, they accuse 37 traders of another kind of interest rate 'rigging' that no-one had seen as a crime. In nine trials from 2015 to 2019, nineteen are convicted and sentenced. Rigged exclusively shows why all the defendants are innocent, and how any real culprits go unpunished. How could this happen? Turns out, it's not just the market that's rigged. It's the entire system.

Genres: Nonfiction, Finance, Economics

350 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 1, 2023

Reviews

[Jaime · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely exceptional book. I could feel my anger rising the more and more I read. Meticulously researched and put together, challenging a common (and poor constructed) narrative. Bravo!

[Jonny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book. As with any book about the financial crisis and the aftermath, it’s hard to follow without having some understanding (and probably first-hand recollection) of the whole period. And reading it took me back to just *how big* a deal LIBOR manipulation seemed in 2012.

It’s that fact which meant I struggled a bit with what to think of the book - the entire scandal always seemed a bit overblown relative to the scale of the financial crisis (wasn’t it pretty obviously the thing that got prosecuted because it felt comprehensible, rather than because it merited it?) And I’d honestly thought that it was basically public record at the time that central banks were telling banks to lower their LIBOR submissions. So the book overall feels: (i) excellently researched; (ii) like it’s saying how things felt at the time; and (iii) bang-on the money about just how counterproductive the US system is of encouraging guilty pleas through plea bargains.

[Cormac · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm sure it would take a lot to make people sympathetic for city bankers earning millions a year, but this book may just do it.

In a similar fashion to the juries mentioned in the book, I can't speak to the completeness of the evidence presented to me. Nevertheless, this account takes a complex topic and makes it very accessible, drawing conclusions that feel sound and well constructed. Andy Verity has written an incredibly interesting book that makes a very compelling case of injustice.

The writing style isn't particularly to my taste; certain facts or phrases were repeated almost ad nauseum, and the jumping between different people's narratives and different timelines occasionally felt quite jarring. This didn't stop it from being an illuminating and powerful read. Would absolutely recommend.

[Rob Pruden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have some experience with LIBOR having worked at a Barclays subsidiary in the US decades ago so I didn't have any learning curve on the issue, but to be perfectly honest I found the first half of the book to be incredibly boring. Once the author got into the outrageous prosecution and persecution of junior bankers, that is when the book got fascinating. The UK legal system is scary as the judges and prosecutors have way too much authority. What this book points out beautifully is the hypocrisy of finding justice when the UK government, the Bank of England, and the top executives of the many banks involved got off Scott free (never even investigated) while the little people were crushed with no evidence that they did anything illegal. It was infuriating getting to know these junior bankers and seeing them scapegoated all the way to a prison cell. Eventually most cases were reversed, but lives had already been destroyed. It also points out the intense pressure to plead guilty to something you know deep down is a lie just to avoid losing your home, and in some cases your family, all the while the state can wave the long list of people who pled guilty so surely a crime (many crimes) were committed. Quite disgusting

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never normally write book reviews but this book made me so angry that I felt I had to. I would say what happened to the bankers is on par if not worse than what happened to the post office workers. The difference being some people think bankers deserve it more because they make lots of money. What people should be thinking and worrying about after reading this book, is just how corrupt not only the government are but also the judiciary. The amount of corruption that took place just to convict these bankers to cover up for the rich and elite is astonishing. The fact that judges are also so corrupt should worry everyone, if it can happen to them what makes you think it won’t happen to you. I hope they make a drama about this like they did the post officer workers so it gets a lot more public scrutiny.

[Arjun Murti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read, tragic story for those falsely jailed

Very well written and reported. A tragic tale of those falsely jailed for crimes they didn't commit. The perversion of "justice" by the DOJ (US), SFO (UK), and senior bank executives and their legal depts that through their employees under the bus. Great job by author in making this very readable and easy to understand for what is otherwise a complex issue.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having worked in the banking world of trading I have a good understanding of policies and procedures.
The absolute disgusting revealed truth is that these bosses all the way to the top are still in the game.
Andy wrote a great book from and incredible story that is still alive unfortunately.
Wish retrospectively these traders could made whole again and the stupidity and the fraud committed by those in charge of justice be punished.
Wishful thinking

[Bodies_upon_the_gears · Rating 3 out of 5]

Хорошая и важная книга с рефлексией о поиске виновных в манипуляции Libor перед Великой Рецессией, но написанная тягомотным языком и затянутая безо всякого бесстыдства. Такие стоит читать в коротком изложении. Буквальное цитирование десятков страниц телефонных переговоров с репликами вроде "Аа", "Да, конечно, нет проблем", "Сколько базисных пунктов вас устроит?" - не лучший писательский приём.

[Diogo Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very engaging read for anyone interested in this issue. Read the book over a weekend.
This is a complicated story with many sides, complexities and nuances, I am not sure this is the definitive account but it's a view point worth reading.

[Phil Waller · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Absolutely fantastic, shocking, yet unfortunately not surprising piece of investigative work

Stunning, shocking, yet not surprising.
A trail of families torn apart, lives ruined, years lost for something which wasn't even remotely illegal