'Flash crash trader' granted legal aid amid assets freeze
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Version 0 of 1. The British financial trader accused of contributing to a multibillion-dollar stock market crash from his parents’ home has been granted legal aid after his funds were frozen by US authorities. Westminster magistrates court heard on Wednesday how Navinder Singh Sarao, 36, who is fighting extradition to the US on 22 counts of fraud and commodity manipulation, had been prevented from paying his lawyers or meeting his bail conditions by a worldwide freezing order. Sarao was arrested last month after the US Department of Justice claimed he had made £27m by “spoofing” financial markets using commercially available trading software to place $200m (£128m) of false trades from his home in Hounslow, west London. The Americans said Sarao’s supposed manipulation contributed to the flash crash on 6 May 2010, when the Dow Jones industrial average plunged 600 points in five minutes and created havoc on Wall Street. Sarao is to remain in custody for at least another week. He is scheduled to appear in the high court next week to fight a decision not to vary his bail conditions. The trader has been remanded in custody for three weeks following his arrest last month, when his bail was set at just over £5m. His lawyers said Sarao’s trading account contained the funds but they have since learned that his assets were frozen, making it impossible to produce the monies. His lawyers asked that Sarao be freed to await a full hearing on his extradition in September, with only £50,000 provided as security by his parents. That request was refused last week by Judge Roscoe, prompting the application to the high court. |