The lawsuit brought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) against former HSBC executive Christophe Rivoire continues at the New York Southern District Court.

After securing an extension of deadlines to pursue testimony back in January 2022, Mr Rivoire, who is charged with market manipulation and fraud, is now seeking a further extension to discovery deadlines in this case. His motion for extra time to complete discovery in Canada and Hong Kong was submitted at the Court on March 29, 2022.

Let’s recall that the CFTC filed an action against Christophe Rivoire on December 20, 2019. The CFTC alleges in its complaint that Mr. Rivoire violated certain provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act and its associated regulations.

The Complaint arises from a 2012 transaction between subsidiaries of HSBC, a global investment bank and financial services company, and a Japanese bond issuer. In July 2012, HSBC served as co-underwriter and sole swap arranger on a $2 billion bond issuance and corresponding U.S. dollar interest rate swap with the Issuer.

The Complaint alleges that Mr. Rivoire, the head of HSBC’s North American Rates business, engaged in a scheme to manipulate the prices of U.S. dollar interest rate basis swaps with five-year maturity, which were used as one of factors to price the interest rate swap component of the Transaction. Mr Rivoire has denied the allegations.

Since August 2020, the parties have engaged in substantial discovery. Each party has served three requests for production of documents and one set of interrogatories on the opposing party, and the CFTC served requests for admission on Mr. Rivoire. In addition, Mr. Rivoire has requested documents from third parties including HSBC, former HSBC traders, the Issuer, and ICAP, an interdealer broker that was involved in the Transaction.

Furthermore, the parties have taken twelve depositions, with an additional deposition scheduled to occur on March 30, 2022. The deponents include Mr. Rivoire, six former HSBC employees, three former ICAP employees, a 30(b)(6) deposition of two witnesses from HSBC Bank USA, N.A., and a 30(b)(6) deposition of ICAP Information Services, Inc.

Mr. Rivoire requests a two-month extension to complete ongoing foreign discovery in Canada and Hong Kong. The foreign discovery in Canada concerns the testimony of Mark Hamlin, a former HSBC employee and a resident of Canada. The foreign discovery in Hong Kong concerns Stephen Tsang, a former HSBC employee and resident of Hong Kong.

Mr. Rivoire proposes extending the close of fact discovery to May 31, 2022, for the purpose of completing the foreign depositions.