US charges three ex-Rabobank traders over Libor Three former Rabobank bankers were charged by US authorities with allegedly manipulating Libor and other key benchmark interest rates as the criminal investigation widened to include another wave of individuals. The US Department of Justice announced criminal conspiracy and fraud charges against Paul Robson, a former senior rate trader and submitter in the UK who left the Rabobank in 2008, Paul Thompson, an Australian who headed the bank's derivatives desk in Singapore, and Tetsuya Motomura, a senior trader and supervisor in Japan. They are accused of conspiring to manipulate the yen Libor rate. Lawyers for Messrs Thompson and Motomura could not immediately be reached for comment. A lawyer for Mr Robson had no immediate comment. It is not clear if the US will seek extradition. Paul Robson is one of the bankers also under investigation by UK authorities. A row broke out last year over the fate of Tom Hayes, a former yen trader with UBS and Citigroup, who was charged in both jurisdictions. The charges announced Monday follow Rabobank's settlement in October with US, UK and Dutch authorities in which it paid $1bn and admitted that 30 employees around the globe manipulated several different interest rates, Euribor and Libor for the US dollar, yen, and pound sterling. Previously the US charged Mr Hayes and Roger Darin, his former colleague at UBS, for allegedly manipulating Libor. Mr Darin, a Swiss citizen, has not entered a plea to the charges. His lawyer has previously declined to comment. Mr Hayes has pleaded not guilty to the UK charges and has not entered a plea to the US case. Three former employees of inter-dealer broker ICAP have also been charged: Darrell Read, Daniel Wilkinson and Colin Goodman. They have not entered pleas. None of the former Rabobank traders charged on Monday are based in the US, which could set up another turf battle with the UK's Serious Fraud Office, which is also investigating the bank and, specifically, Mr Robson's role. The SFO indicated last year that it would identify Mr Robson and 21 others as co-conspirators within an indictment that was to be filed against Mr Hayes. The SFO later narrowed the charges and did not include the names. US authorities allege Rabobank submitters manipulated rates to help their own positions, at times it is alleged that they helped other banks, including UBS, attempt to manipulate rates. Mr Robson, Mr Thompson and Mr Motomura allegedly entered "ridiculously" high and "silly" low Libor submissions to benefit their own positions, DoJ said. In May 2006, according to DoJ, Mr Thompson emailed Mr Robson asking him to "sneak your 3m libor down a cheeky 1 or 2 bp" because "it will make a bit of diff for me" on a large position he held. "No prob mate I mark it low," Mr Robson replied.