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By Nate Raymond
NEW YORK, Nov 6 (Reuters) - A sprawling, globalinvestigation into whether banks manipulated Libor benchmarkinterest rates may result in U.S. charges against moreindividual defendants and a guilty plea from another bank, aU.S. Department of Justice lawyer said on Thursday.
Michael Koenig, the federal prosecutor, said during a NewYork federal court hearing that the Justice Department had"individual targets in mind" for potential charges and "at leastone other bank entity we anticipate entering into pleanegotiations with."
"We do have some more in mind, but we're at the tail end ofthat," he said.
Koenig did not name the bank or individuals. Peter Carr, aJustice Department spokesman, declined to identify potentialtargets of what he called an "active, ongoing investigation."
U.S. and European authorities have in recent years chargedseveral individuals and extracted billions of dollars in finesfrom banks stemming from alleged manipulation of Libor andrelated rates.
Libor, or the London interbank offered rate, is calculatedbased on submissions by a panel of banks. It is used to setinterest rates on credit cards, student loans and mortgages, andunderpins hundreds of trillions of dollars of transactions.
Thursday's hearing before U.S. District Judge George Danielsaddressed a Justice Department request to put documentdiscovery, or the gathering of evidence, on hold in a proposedclass action lawsuit against several banks.
The lawsuit, filed in 2012, claimed the banks includingJPMorgan Chase & Co, HSBC Holdings Plc andDeutsche Bank AG manipulated yen-denominated interestrate benchmarks between 2006 and 2010.
Daniels ordered a stay on discovery until Jan. 15, 2015. Thegovernment had sought a stay until May while its investigationcontinued.
Deutsche Bank is preparing to pay almost 1 billion euros($1.24 billion) in Libor-related fines as it nears a deal withU.S. and British authorities, Reuters reported lastmonth.
Deutsche Bank on Thursday said it is "cooperating in thevarious regulatory investigations and conducting its own ongoingreview into the interbank offered rates matters."
To date, the Justice Department has obtained nearly $1.95billion through settlements with UBS AG, Royal Bank ofScotland Group Plc, Rabobank and Barclays Plc.
As part of those settlements, Japanese units of UBS and RBSpleaded guilty to wire fraud.
The Justice Department meanwhile has criminally charged 11individuals from UBS, Rabobank and ICAP Plc. Two formerRabobank employees have pleaded guilty as part of the U.S.investigation.
The case is Laydon v Mizuho Bank Ltd, et al, U.S. DistrictCourt, Southern District of New York, No 12-3419. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by MargueritaChoy)
