FX Trader Loses Appeal: to Serve Jail Sentence

Akshay Aiyer, a former JP Morgan FX trader convicted of market manipulation in 2018, has lost his appeal to have the conviction overturned.

Aiyer was sentenced to eight months in prison as well as two years’ supervised release – he was also fined $150,000 for his part in what the court found was collusion with other traders to rig FX rates in CEEMA currencies. The details of the collusion are sadly familiar to FX industry-watchers, involved traders sharing information in chat rooms, including, allegedly, confidential client trading details.

The US Second Circuit Appeals Court threw out his argument that the original judgement failed to consider evidence showing his conduct, rather than being anti-competitive, was actually, as one of his expert witnesses argued, pro-competitive.

The case was also punctuated by accusations of jury misconduct after one of the jurors mentioned the case in a podcast and claimed people had stopped paying attention, while another was alleged to have said they had looked up information in contradiction of the laws governing jury service. After interviews with the jurors and an investigation, the District Court found no wrongdoing.

Aiyer has been on bail pending and during his appeal, but will now have to serve the sentence.