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'Flash Crash' Trader Pleads Guilty, Facing Up To 30 Years In Prison (telegraph.co.uk)
Slashdot reader whoever57 writes;
Navinder Sarao, the British trader who was accused of causing the "flash crash" in 2010 and was extradited to the U.S. this week has pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of spoofing. No details of the plea deal have been released, but it's believed that he's agreed to forfeit $13 million. Several years of jail time are also expected for Mr. Sarao.
From the Telegraph: Sarao, a 37-year-old working out of a modest suburban home in Hounslow in west London, allegedly made tens of millions of dollars with a computer program that could automatically manipulate prices... "Navinder Sarao abused sophisticated technology to make a quick profit, and jeopardised the integrity of US financial markets," said Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell.
Sentencing guidelines suggest he'll spend at least six and a half years in prison, though he faced a maximum possible sentence of 30 years and still faces the possibility of $38 million in sanctions.
From the Telegraph: Sarao, a 37-year-old working out of a modest suburban home in Hounslow in west London, allegedly made tens of millions of dollars with a computer program that could automatically manipulate prices... "Navinder Sarao abused sophisticated technology to make a quick profit, and jeopardised the integrity of US financial markets," said Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell.
Sentencing guidelines suggest he'll spend at least six and a half years in prison, though he faced a maximum possible sentence of 30 years and still faces the possibility of $38 million in sanctions.
"Navinder Sarao abused sophisticated technology to make a quick profit, and jeopardised the integrity of US financial markets," said Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell.
TRANSLATION:
"Only we get to fuck with the integrity of US financial markets." - Wall Street Bankers
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
If he had paid the right people and bought a seat on the exchange, they'd have called it HFT and it wouldn't have been an issue.
But manipulate prices from your garage, and off to prison for you.
Learn to love Alaska
I don't know if this information is public, but what is his supposed crime, specifically?
Did he break the rules of the exchange? Did he trespass, break in, or otherwise tamper with the system?
If you're playing poker, actually manipulating the deck, looking at other people's cards, are both against the rules. Participants agree to those rules when they join the table.
Let's say you're really good at bluffing other people or reading their bluff, you've done nothing wrong. And calling it "manipulation" or "abuse" or "profiting" or "ruining other players" is just a way to obscure that fact.
These comments are mine; I do not speak for my employer.
If one guy can cause this, it proves that the US financial markets *intrinsically* don't have much integrity.
All stock markets are unstable, not just the US. You just need one rumor and *bam* you instantly wipe off $$$. Stock markets are run by people and it all comes back to Agent K's quote:
The person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, and you know it!
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It always boggles my mind when people who abuse computers for financial gain face harsher sentences than so many rapist and murderers (not exclusive). Then I truly consider the reasons why and I choose to remain boggled.
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They are just more subtle about it. And they make more money doing it.And they are too big to fail. And they don't like any lone rangers stepping on their turf.