Indian-origin 'flash crash' trader gets legal aid from UK government

LONDON: An Indian-origin futures trader, fighting extradition to America for his alleged role in the 2010 Wall Street "flash crash", has been granted UK government-funded legal aid to pay his legal team.

Westminster Magistrates Court in London was today informed that Navinder Singh Sarao had been prevented from paying his lawyers or meeting his bail conditions after US authorities imposed a worldwide assets freeze on him.

Legal aid, aimed at ensuring equal access to justice, is made available to people otherwise unable to afford legal representation.

The 36-year-old is fighting extradition to the US on 22 counts of fraud and commodity manipulation in the multi-million pound case.

He will remain in custody for at least another week and is scheduled to appear in the UK High Court on May 20 to fight his bail condition demanding 5 million pounds.

His lawyers had appealed that Sarao should 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 last week, leading to the high court appeal application.

Sarao was arrested last month after the US Department of Justice 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 that Sarao's supposed manipulation contributed to the flash crash on May 6, 2010, when the Dow Jones industrial average plunged 600 points in five minutes and created havoc on Wall Street.

A review hearing for the extradition proceedings is due to take place on May 26, but could be postponed to accommodate the delays in funding Sarao's legal team.