US flash crash: PIO Sarao fails to stop extradition hearing

Lawyers for Navinder Singh Sarao, 36, had urged Westminster Magistrates Court to delay an extradition hearing set for late next month to allow an expert witness more time to prepare a report for his defence.

However, District Judge Quentin Purdy denied the application and said that the two-day hearing would not be delayed from starting on September 25. 

The judge ruled that the expert evidence was not relevant to any decision to send Sarao to the United States, where he could face a jail sentence of up to 380 years, The Times reported.

The ruling comes two weeks after Sarao was released on bail after spending more than 100 days behind bars after his arrest on April 21. American prosecutors charged him with using illegal “spoof” orders that they allege helped to precipitate the Wall Street “<g data-gr-id="22">flash crash</g>”.

Sarao was originally granted bail on the condition that he <g data-gr-id="26">pay</g> the court a surety of 5 million pounds days after his arrest. However, he subsequently claimed that he was unable to meet the terms of the agreement after a United States court issued a worldwide freezing order on his assets.

He was freed on August 14 after his bail was reduced to 50,000 pounds. It is alleged that Sarao used a <g data-gr-id="30">high speed</g> internet connection at his parent’s London home to place a large number of fraudulent electronic orders to sell one type of financial contract.

He is then accused of cancelling the orders, forcing the prices back up again and taking profit from the price swing.

The United States Department of Justice believes that these trades contributed to the flash crash of May 6, 2010, when the Dow Jones stock exchange lost 700 points in a matter of minutes, wiping $800 billion of the value of United States shares, before recovering again.