According to an article in "The New York Times" published July 16, 2012, a former senior Barclays executive claimed he had received instructions from Robert Diamond to lower Libor rates after Diamond's discussions with Paul Tucker, deputy governor of the Bank of England, in which they had discussed the bank's financial position at the height of the 2008 financial crisis. Diamond, who reported that he was "sickened" by news of the Libor scandal, was surprised to see calls for his departure since Barclays had taken the advice of its lawyers to cooperate in the investigation and be first bank to settle the charges.