A HAMPSHIRE banker has been released on bail of $1 million after being charged in connection with a multi-million-pound exchange rate scam.

HSBC executive Mark Johnson and his co-defendant have been are accused of rigging the currency market following an investigation into a £2.7billion transaction.

Johnson, the bank’s global head of foreign exchange, lives in a £1.8million mansion in the New Forest.

Officials from the US Department of Justice say he conspired to defraud an unnamed client in a scheme that netted more than £6million.

The 50-year-old father-of-six was detained after flying to New York but was subsequently released on bail of $1million (£755,000) by a federal court.

Johnson is set to stand trial along with Stuart Scott, 43, who was HSBC’s former head of foreign exchange until he left the bank in 2014.

Their pair are accused of misusing confidential information given to them by the client, who was about to convert $3.5 billion into British pounds.

US prosecutors claim the two bankers bought sterling themselves because they knew that such a large transaction would increase the value of the currency.

By ramping up the price of sterling ahead of the conversion they earned millions in profits at their client’s expense, it is alleged.

District attorney Robert Capers said the defendants put personal and company profits ahead of their duty of trust and confidentiality.

He added: “When questioned by their client about the higher price paid for the transaction, the defendants wove a web of lies designed to conceal the truth and divert attention away from their fraudulent trades.”

Assistant attorney general Leslie Caldwell said the two men manipulated the foreign exchange market to benefit themselves and their bank.

HSBC, which is not accused of any wrongdoing, has declined to comment on the case.

But one of Johnson’s neighbours in the New Forest village of Burley has spoken of her shock at his arrest, describing him as a ‘lovely man’ whose detention had come as a ‘total surprise’.

Workmen at the large detached property on the edge of the village said the banker and his wife Diane were ‘away’.

According to reports from the US Johnson is planning to live in a luxury New York flat costing up to £15,000 a month while he awaits trial.

The Art Deco-style apartment block on Manhattan’s Upper West Side has a roof terrace, a 24-hour concierge and a health club.