UK Court of Appeal overturns former Deutsche Bank trader’s conviction

Christian Bittar had served a prison sentence in a case involving manipulation of the Euribor rate; the court will give its reasons later.

The Court of Appeal overturned the fraud conviction of former Deutsche Bank trader Christian Bittar in a case involving manipulation of the Euribor rate. Bittar pleaded guilty in 2018 and later spent about five years in prison. City A.M. reported that the ruling was issued on October 9.

Bittar challenged his guilty plea, arguing that it had been entered on an incorrect legal basis. Lord Justice Edis said the court would set out its reasons for quashing the conviction at a later date. The case is linked to investigations into benchmark-rate manipulation in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis.

The ruling followed the quashing on October 7, 2026, of convictions against five former Barclays traders in Libor and Euribor cases. In July 2025, the Supreme Court also quashed the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo. Quashing a conviction does not in itself mean the court found Bittar innocent.