Britain’s Supreme Court has quashed the convictions of two financial market traders accused of manipulating benchmark interest rates in one of the biggest scandals to come out of the global financial crisis in 2008.

At a mostly empty courtroom, Boston Municipal Court Chief Justice Tracy-Lee Lyons invoked the Lavallee protocol in dismissing case after case. It requires cases be dropped if a defendant hasn't had an attorney for 45 days and released from custody if they haven't had one for seven days.