HSBC trader Mark Johnson convicted on fraud charges for front-running

His defense was that everyone was doing it

Not a great day for the FX industry.

Here is some background.

Johnson was arrested after a one-month trial. The UK national was arrested in New York as he was about to board a plane to London. The bank's former head of currency trading is fighting extradition.

It was a standard front-run of a client order in Dec 2011.