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UK court rejects bail plea of Indian-origin ‘flash trader’ Sarao

The UK High Court on Wednesday denied an appeal by an Indian-origin lone trader, fighting extradition to America for his alleged role in the 2010 Wall Street “flash crash” which wiped nearly $1 trillion off the value of US shares, to vary his 5 million pound bail condition. Navinder Singh Sarao, accused of contributing to the Wall Street “flash crash” five years ago, had requested that his bail conditions be relaxed as his assets had been frozen.

The court decision means the 36-year-old will remain in custody while fighting his extradition to the US. “There’s no substantial reassurance that this applicant is not a flight risk,” said Judge Ross Cranston at a hearing in London. Sarao has been granted UK government funded legal aid to pay his legal team after he claimed that he had been prevented from paying his lawyers or meeting his bail conditions by <g data-gr-id="25">a worldwide assets</g> freeze order by US authorities. Legal aid, aimed at ensuring equal access to justice, is made available to people otherwise unable to afford legal representation. Sarao is fighting extradition to the US on 22 counts of fraud and commodity manipulation in the <g data-gr-id="22">multi-million pound</g> case. His lawyers asked that he be freed to await a full hearing on his extradition in September based on 50,000 pounds provided as security by his parents. 

The request was refused leading to the high court appeal application. Sarao was arrested last month after the US Department of Justice (DoJ) claimed he had made 27 million pounds by “spoofing” financial markets using commercially available trading software to place 128 million pounds of false trades from his parents’ home in Hounslow, west London. The US authorities claim Sarao’s supposed manipulation contributed to the flash crash on 6 May <g data-gr-id="20">2010,</g> when the Dow Jones industrial average plunged 600 points in five minutes. 

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