FIVE brokers accused of rate rigging have been cleared.

The accused, including James Gilmour from Benfleet and Terry Farr of Southend, were charged with The Libor rate is used to carry out trillions of pounds worth of financial deals.

Prosecutors had alleged the men conspired with a currency trader to fix rates in exchange for offers of treats like takeaway curries and drinks.

They stood trial for conspiracy to defraud by trying to manipulate the Libor rate linked to the Japanese Yen.

But after an almost four-month trial, a jury at London's Southwark Crown Court cleared five of the six men on all counts.

Noel Cryan, 49, of Chislehurst, Kent; Danny Wilkinson, 48, of Hornchurch, Essex; Colin Goodman, 53, of Epsom, Surrey, were cleared alongsie Gilmour, 50, and Farr, 44.

The jury has been instructed to continue deliberations on Thursday morning in relation to one count against Darrell Read, 50, of Wellington, New Zealand.

The men had been accused of helping trader Tom Hayes manipulate the Libor rate over a period of four years.

Hayes, who was convicted of conspiracy to defraud earlier this year, repeatedly asked them via instant messages and emails for help getting the Libor rates set in his favour, the court had heard.

Libor is the term for benchmark rates which underpin hundreds of trillions of pounds of contracts, from mortgages to corporate lending.