Wall Street 'flash crash' accused Navinder Sarao extradited to US

British defendant due to appear shortly in Chicago court
to answer 22 charges of fraud and market manipulation

Julia Kollewe
Tuesday 8 November 2016 15.20 GMT

The day trader accused of helping trigger the 2010 Wall Street “flash crash” from his parents’ home, has been extradited to the US and is expected to appear in a court in Chicago.

Navinder Sarao is in US custody and is scheduled to appear in federal court on Tuesday morning, Bloomberg reported. Sarao lost his year-long legal battle against extradition at the high court in London in mid-October.

Sarao, 37, faces 22 charges of fraud and market manipulation, which carry sentences totalling a maximum of 380 years. He is accused of making $40m (£32m) by “spoofing” the US market over five years, trading from his parents’ home in Hounslow, west London.

Sarao is alleged to have modified computer software to spoof the market by placing huge orders on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange which he never intended to execute and which were later cancelled.

The case centres on his alleged contribution to the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunging 600 points in five minutes on 6 May 2010, wiping almost $1tn off the value of US shares. US authorities claim he made $875,000 on the day.

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