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Mark Johnson, a former HSBC trader who spent time in both US federal prisons and Wandsworth prison in the UK, has finally had his conviction overturned after a long legal battle. Johnson, 59, was convicted of fraud in 2017 for allegedly manipulating foreign exchange rates during a large trade six years prior. However, after the US courts overturned the law used to prosecute him, a new appeal was launched which ultimately led to his full acquittal.
His US lawyer, Alexandra Shapiro, expressed her joy at the long-awaited justice for Johnson, stating that this case should never have been brought to trial. Prosecutors had accused Johnson of conspiring with a colleague to inflate the price of sterling against the dollar before executing a $3.5 billion foreign exchange trade for HSBC’s client Cairn Energy. This practice, known as ‘front-running,’ was contested by industry experts who argued that it was a standard risk management technique in the banking industry.
Johnson, a father of five from Hampshire, was arrested in 2016 at JFK Airport while accompanying his son and a friend back to the UK. His arrest followed demands in Congress to prosecute HSBC employees who had avoided facing justice, as revealed in a congressional report titled “Too Big to Jail.” Despite facing extradition, Johnson’s alleged co-conspirator, Stuart Scott, contested the charges and ultimately had them withdrawn by the US Department of Justice.
The entire ordeal has spanned nearly a decade, with Johnson experiencing imprisonment in both the US and the UK before finally being released on license in 2022. The overturning of his conviction in 2023 marks the end of a challenging chapter in Johnson’s life, allowing him to move forward and leave the legal battles behind him
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