The criminal trial of the alleged mastermind of a vast interest-rate-rigging scandal got under way on Tuesday, with prosecutors describing former bank trader Tom Hayes as dishonest and greedy.

Hayes, who worked at UBS and Citigroup in Tokyo, has pleaded not guilty to the fraud-related charges. His defense has not had the opportunity yet to respond to the allegations, although Hayes has denied behaving dishonestly and previously told The Wall Street Journal that "this goes much much higher than me".