Former bank trader Tom Hayes’s efforts to move benchmark interest rates were so explicit and out in the open that he clearly didn’t view what he was doing as dishonest or inappropriate, his defense team argued on Tuesday.

The criminal trial of Hayes, who used to work at UBS and Citigroup, is in its final stages, with the case expected to go to the jury early next week. Hayes is the first person to stand trial for trying to manipulate the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, and is accused by British prosecutors of eight counts of conspiring to commit fraud.