Barclays plans to challenge the fines. But they should be thrilled that their company stands accused of manipulating energy markets without any individuals actually committing the fraud. FERC proposed only fines for the individual traders who manipulated the markets. Similarly, the Justice Department had the opportunity to nail Barclays traders with criminal charges in the Libor case and passed on it. So bank fraud persists without the kind of accountability that puts the perpetrators behind bars.

Barclays Bank, the only bank to date to settle in the Libor scandal, could face more regulatory probes down the line on a number of other issues, including an energy trading scandal in the US.

Several former traders at UBS have been offered a deal by federal prosecutors in the unfolding Libor scandal, which if we had a criminal justice apparatus dedicated to accountability would be a moment of hope for the potential of going up the chain and indicting those who authorized the rate-rigging. Under the deal, the US would waive the traders from criminal charges in exchange for their cooperation in the investigation.

Mitt Romney is apparently not having the best time in Britain thus far. But things will get significantly better when he attends a big fundraiser tonight populated by many executives from Barclays Bank, the firm at the heart of the Libor scandal. While Bob Diamond, the former CEO, has dropped out of the event, Patrick Durkin, the top lobbyist at Barclays US operation, is a co-host (and also a major bundler for Romney). All the attendees are US citizens who either live in London or who traveled for the event.

Tim Geithner is testifying before the House Financial Services Committee on a number of issues today. It looked like he would skate by without questions on the Libor scandal until Scott Garrett, an unlikely source, tore into him. And it got worse.

Reuters, which has been generally pretty solid on the Libor story, reports that arrests are imminent in the rate-rigging scandal. It’s not clear whether the arrests will go beyond a few traders and reach into senior management who provided the cover.

As regulators and law enforcement officials around the world begin to dig into the Libor scandal, the 15 or so banks who know they’re responsible for the massive rate-rigging are trying to limit the damage. That’s right, it’s time for another round of: let’s have a global settlement!

The British Parliament continued their investigation into Barclays Bank and the Libor scandal this week, and it’s just getting worse and worse for everyone involved. Yesterday, Jerry del Missier, the former COO of Barclays, testified that he was instructed by CEO Bob Diamond to manipulate the Libor down in 2008, to mask the ill financial health of the bank.

A former prosecutor did suggest to me last month that the Administration wouldn’t have thrown together a financial fraud task force, and revive it earlier this year, if they didn’t have some prosecutions waiting on the runway. Libor could be those prosecutions. It wouldn’t surprise me at all.

As part of the release of data from the New York Federal Reserve Bank yesterday, a phone transcript revealed that a Barclays employee admitted to the regulatory body that their submissions of the interest rate benchmark, Libor, were fraudulent, and that they assumed all other banks engaged in the same practice.