Barclays’ exec: Life isn’t fair

Published Jul 26, 2016

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London - A Barclays trader fired amid the foreign-exchange market manipulation scandal told a London court that a senior bank executive said “life isn’t fair” before firing him.

Justin Bull, the bank’s former chief operating officer, mocked Chris Ashton during his April 2015 disciplinary hearing, Ashton said in a witness statement made public Tuesday. During the hearing, Ashton said it was unfair to apply rules made in the wake of the scandal to his conduct in 2012.

“Justin leaned forward, spread his arms and said ‘Well, life isn’t fair,”’ Ashton said in his statement. “I found it not only unfair, but entirely unreasonable and deeply offensive.”

Ashton sued, saying he was fired unfairly and made a scapegoat after he blew the whistle on improper conduct in electronic chat rooms in 2012, a year before news of the scandal broke. The bank says Ashton intentionally ignored its code of conduct by using offensive language and sharing confidential information.

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A Barclays spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ashton is the most high-profile of more than half a dozen traders and sales people to sue their employers in recent months, claiming they were fired as banks rushed to appease regulators.

He was a member of “The Cartel” - the name given to a now notorious chat room used by senior traders at banks including Barclays, JP Morgan Chase & Co. and UBS to share information and agree on ways to try to move currency benchmarks including the so-called 4 p.m. fix.

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