• Thursday, March 28, 2024

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No more jail time for flash crash trader, rules US court

Navinder Singh Sarao had been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism. (Photo: AFP via Getty Images)

By: Eastern Eye Staff

BRITISH trader Navinder Singh Sarao, who helped trigger a $1 trillion crash on Wall Street in 2010, has been spared jail term. A one-year detention at his West London home would suffice, ruled a court in Chicago.

Operating from his bedroom in his parents’ house in Hounslow, Sarao, 41, had spoofed and spooked global indices with the “flash crash” that lasted 36 minutes. Some people dubbed him the “Hound of Hounslow”.

Sarao was arrested in 2015, and spent four months in UK’s Wandsworth Prison. Within a year, he was extradited to the US, where he faced 22 charges that could have earned him a maximum sentence of 380 years.

But, eventually, US prosecutors as well as his legal team called for leniency, as the case was of “extraordinary” nature— “a rare, even unique case and individual”. Sarao had been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism.

His lawyers argued that Sarao was never greedy for money. The problem, they maintained, was his fascination with markets as a “sophisticated video game”— an “obsessive or addictive desire to excel at electronic trading”.

They described him in court documents as a “singularly sunny, childlike, guileless, trusting person”.

Reports said Sarao maintained a frugal life that revolved around “a childlike bedroom that includes multiple stuffed animals”, “off-peak tickets” for travel and “McDonald’s coupons” for food.

The prosecutors noted that Sarao’s “utter lack of significant personal expenditures or extravagance sheds light on the nature and circumstances of his offense because they strongly indicate that he was not motivated by any greed whatsoever”.

Sarao told the court that he had been addicted to trading, and that he made “more money than I could ever have imagined”. But that “didn’t make me happy”, he added.

Using his own software, Sarao had made £45 million from illegal trades. However, his only significant indulgence was a £5,000 car. (He reportedly lost a lost a lot of money to investment scammers, and forfeited the remaining £5.8 million to US authorities.)

“When I thought about buying expensive things I knew I would get bored of them… money doesn’t buy happiness,” Sarao told the court. “I am glad that I know that now.”

Moreover, prosecutors described Sarao’s “timely” assistance and testimonies in other scam cases as “extraordinary cooperation with the government”. And, it was recommended earlier this month that he serve no further prison time.

His lawyers thanked the court for its leniency, adding that Sarao would be “overjoyed to put this behind him, go home, and move on with his life”.

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