Sept 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department is expectedto disclose criminal charges against former and currentemployees of ICAP Plc as soon as Wednesday for allegedlymanipulating benchmark interest rates, the Wall Street Journalreported, citing people familiar with the planned charges.
Authorities in the United Kingdom and United States are alsoexpected to announce civil settlements against the broker-dealeron Wednesday, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Britain's ICAP may pay less than $100 million to settle thecivil probe into the alleged rigging of the London InterbankOffered Rate, or Libor, and other benchmarks on which are basedinterest rates for trillions of dollars of loans, the Journalsaid on Sunday, citing sources.
In the Libor probe four individuals have been charged todate.
Barclays Plc, UBS AG and Royal Bank ofScotland Group Plc have agreed to pay a total of about$2.5 billion in settlements since last summer.
ICAP, the U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. CommodityFutures Trading Commission were not available for commentsimmediately.
While Britain's Serious Fraud Office said it would issue astatement on the matter on Wednesday, the country's FinancialConduct Authority declined to comment.