LONDON--A former UBS AG trader charged by the U.S. in 2012 with attempted manipulation of benchmark interest rates filed a motion to dismiss the case, blasting the Justice Department for "an unprecedented attempt to expand the extraterritorial reach" of U.S. law.

Roger Darin, a Swiss citizen who worked for UBS in Tokyo and Zurich, was charged by the Justice Department in December 2012 with criminal fraud for allegedly trying to manipulate the Japanese yen version of the London interbank offered rate, or Libor. Mr. Darin was charged alongside another former UBS trader, Tom Hayes.

In a motion to dismiss filed in New York federal court Thursday, Mr. Darin's lawyers said the U.S. lacks jurisdiction to charge the former trader, a foreign national whose alleged actions took place at a foreign bank and on foreign soil, involved a benchmark denominated in a foreign currency, and weren't designed to affect the U.S. The motion also says Mr. Darin's alleged actions have never previously been considered criminal.

"If the government's sweeping theory is accepted, then federal law could be used to prosecute any foreign national, acting outside the United States, who has affected any piece of financial information that can be accessed through the Internet," the motion says. "The Constitution does not permit such prosecutorial overreach."

In its criminal complaint against Messrs. Darin and Hayes, the Justice Department accused the former traders of conspiring to rig yen Libor in a fraudulent manner. The Justice Department hasn't submitted court filings responding to Mr. Darin's motion.

Messrs. Darin and Hayes haven't entered pleas in the U.S. Mr. Hayes faces similar criminal charges in the U.K. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges and his trial is scheduled to begin in London early next year.

Write to David Enrich at david.enrich@wsj.com

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