Navinder Singh Sarao: Flash crash trader on £5m bail gets legal aid in fight against extradition

The trader alleged to have earned £27m from market manipulation is now on legal aid, despite having his bail surety set at over £5m. 

 

Joel Smith, the solicitor representing Navinder Sarao, told District Judge Elizabeth Roscoe yesterday that his client had been found eligible for the aid at the start of the week. 

 

The news came as Sarao, the so-called flash crash trader, was back in court for the fourth time, as the ongoing dispute over his ability to meet his bail conditions moves towards the High Court.

 

Dressed in a grey tracksuit, Sarao, who faces extradition to the US to face charges over his alleged role in the 2010 Wall Street flash crash, only spoke to confirm his name and date of birth. 

 

The Brunel University graduate was arrested in April. 

 

Sarao traded out of his modest family home in Hounslow, where he lived with his parents, leading him to be dubbed the Hound of Hounslow. 

 

US authorities maintain Sarao made £27m through a form of market manipulation called “spoofing.” 

 

They also alleged Sarao was using this technique during a trading session in 2010 when he may have contributed to the flash crash, which wiped hundreds of billions of dollars off company values before the market rebounded in minutes. 

 

Sarao failed to come up with the £5m surety after his assets were frozen through an international restraining order issued by the US.