Flash crash trader pleads guilty in Chicago court to two of the 22 charges he faces
The Hound of Hounslow, the trader allegedly at the centre of the 2010 flash crash, has pleaded guilty in a Chicago court to wire fraud and spoofing.
Navinder Sarao hit the headlines after he was accused of crashing American stock markets by placing enormous orders via a trading platform based in his Hounslow bedroom.
Read more: Trader allegedly "engaged" in spoofing on flash crash day
The 37-year-old who has been extradited from the UK after battling against such an order, is facing 22 charges of fraud and market manipulation. In his first appearance in a US court he pleaded guilty to two of the counts and agreed to gave back $12.9m that he had made from the trades.
Sarao is reported to have made $900,000 in one day on 6 May 2010 by spoofing – placing huge trades and then immediately cancelling them – the Dow Jones. His strategy contributed to around $1 trillion being wiped-off the value of US equities temporarily.
It is alleged that Sarao made a total of $40m from trades using the technique between 2009 and 2014.