After a hearing on Friday (9 October 2026), the Court of Appeal ruled that the conviction of Christian Bittar for conspiracy to defraud would be quashed. M. Bittar had been one of the City's most successful derivatives traders. He was charged in 2015 and, in 2018, pleaded guilty to the single count he faced. Following his plea, he served a sentence of six years' imprisonment.
The argument advanced was that, given the legal errors identified by the Supreme Court last year in R v Hayes & Palombo, M. Bittar's plea did not amount to an admission to all of the elements of the offence.
While the SFO did not resist the appeals in the case of the traders convicted after trials (Jonathan Mathew, Jay Merchant, Alex Pabon and Colin Bermingham), in M. Bittar's case they argued that, because of the guilty plea, the appeal had no real prospect of success and that leave to appeal should be refused. Accordingly, the appeal was argued before the Court of Appeal last Friday.
At the conclusion of the hearing the court indicated that the conviction would be quashed. The reasoned judgment is to follow.
Adrian Darbishire KC and Tom Doble, together with Katherine Hardcastle of Fountain Court Chambers, acted for M. Bittar, instructed by Hickman & Rose (Ben Rose and Tom Bushnell).
Adrian Darbishire KC
Tom Doble