US claims currency conspiracy in HSBC may involve up to 11 bank employees

A foreign exchange front-running scheme at HSBC Holdings Plc may have involved at least 11 bank employees beyond the two executives who have been charged with crimes, a prosecutor said on Monday.

Mark Johnson, HSBC’s global head of foreign exchange cash trading in London, is expected to go on trial September 18 in New York, accused of illegally using his knowledge to profit from a pending US$3.5 billion currency transaction in 2011.

In a case that is the first of its kind to be brought by the US, prosecutors said Johnson, and Stuart Scott, the bank’s former head of currency trading in Europe, conspired to take advantage of confidential information about an unidentified company’s plans to sell part of its stake in an Indian subsidiary and convert the proceeds from dollars to pounds.

Prosecutors have said both men and unidentified “others” bought pounds in the days before the transaction. On Monday, they specified how many may have participated.

“We’ve identified at least 11 traders who put on positions based on inside information,” Brian Young, a Justice Department lawyer told US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis. “Our allegation is Mr Johnson tipped off other traders at the bank who also traded. ”

Melissa Cassar, a spokeswoman for HSBC, declined to comment.