British authorities charge 3 former Barclays employees in inquiry into rigging of market rate

LONDON – Britain's Serious Fraud Office is charging three former Barclays employees in a scandal related to the rigging of a key market interest rate.

Authorities say criminal proceedings have begun against Peter Charles Johnson, Jonathan James Mathew and Stylianos Contogoulas for actions between June 1, 2005 and Aug. 31, 2007.

A court date has not yet been set to enter pleas.

At least six people have been implicated in the manipulation of the London interbank lending rate, known as LIBOR. The rate is used by banks to borrow from each other and indirectly affects the cost of loans in the wider economy.

Britain's Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland, Switzerland's UBS and the Dutch Rabobank have been fined a total of $3.6 billion by U.S. and British regulators for manipulating LIBOR.