'Flash Crash' trader granted bail

dowie

dowie

dowie

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33929830

Interestingly he's got himself an Asperger's diagnosis - this worked for Gary McKinnon who managed to get his extradition blocked.

It does seem though that a lot of people who are very into computers or obsessive enough to be that successful in trading(at least in that form of trading - staring at price ladders, trying to spot patterns - something very few people can do successfully these days) have quite a reasonable chance of being an aspie. It is probably much more common that people think, there are plenty of socially awkward people in IT etc.. and only a tiny tiny % of the population is ever tested for it. I guess it could be the go to defence for any geeks facing extradition - get yourself a psychologist quickly and get tested.
 
Mr Sarao told an earlier hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court that he had not "done anything wrong, apart from being good at my job".
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Hmm, when did Asperger's Syndrome become a polite way of saying someone is an arrogrant, obnoxious *****?
 
Hikari Kisugi said:
Why should such a diagnosis make you not criminally liable?

Is there actually a reasoning for this?
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It doesn't - it has been used previously to prevent extradition, Gary McKinnon could have been tried in the UK for example if the evidence was available here.
 
scorza said:
Hmm, when did Asperger's Syndrome become a polite way of saying someone is an arrogrant, obnoxious *****?
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Why is he being arrogant and obnoxious? Whether he has done anything wrong isn't clear yet and in his head at least he doesn't believe he has done anything wrong.
 
Apparently he's a signature away from extradition and a maximum of 380 years in prison (silly Americans);

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35879099

Surprised this wasn't discussed more.

I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to this but I get the impression what he's done is little different to the algorithmic traders these big companies use daily.
 
Pretty amazing how a small fish like him can get a possible sentence of 380 years yet the rating agencies in US and mortgage sellers got away with not even so much as a slap for both lying and not doing their job correctly during sub prime crisis that caused a global financial meltdown wiping trillions off the world economy.
 
neoboy said:
Pretty amazing how a small fish like him can get a possible sentence of 380 years yet the rating agencies in US and mortgage sellers got away with not even so much as a slap for both lying and not doing their job correctly during sub prime crisis that caused a global financial meltdown wiping trillions off the world economy.
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I don't see why they're seeking such a severe punishment anyway - if one guy can cause such a huge movement on the markets surely there's some changes that need to be made to the underlying to prevent this from happening again.
 
Mr Sarao's barrister James Lewis has attacked those claims, pointing to a growing body of opinion in the City and in academia that he could not, as the FBI allege, have "materially contributed" to the flash crash of 2010.

Instead it's alleged that the flash crash happened because of a giant sell order placed by a US hedge fund called Waddell & Read, a conclusion previously reached by the US regulator, the Commodities & Futures Trading Commission.
Moreover, according to Mr Sarao's lawyers the US authorities are committing an "abuse of process".
Under extradition arrangements with the US, the accused can only be extradited from England if what they are accused of is a crime under English law. There is no English crime of "spoofing".
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Its a farce in my opinion, forget about the Asbergers. He didn't have much (or anything?) to do with it and also it's not a crime in the UK. How they can agree to extradite him is beyond me.
 
Be interesting to see what happens. Between playing ball with the USA or going along with our own legal system.

Should be interesting. Just a shame his life is on the line.
 
Burned_Alive said:
Surely this is all just in the nature of the stock market anyway? I doubt any buys or sells are made "in good faith".
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You doubt anyone who places a buy order wants to buy? What a bizarre argument...

While spoofing does exist nothing would get traded if no one actually wanted to execute orders - market orders couldn't exist, yet they do - ergo your statement is false.
 
Mynight said:
I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to this but I get the impression what he's done is little different to the algorithmic traders these big companies use daily.
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Why do you get that impression? Big companies or rather banks don't tend to do what he does and can't generally compete in that area. His main competition is small high frequency firms though they're unlikely to implement something as blatant as what he's alleged to have implemented.
 
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