Navinder Sarao, the British day trader who triggered the 2010 'flash crash' that briefly wiped a trillion dollars off Wall Street, has been sentenced to one year of home incarceration at his parents' house in Hounslow, west London. The sentence, handed down by a Chicago court, means Sarao will serve no prison time beyond the four months he spent in a UK jail in 2015.
Sarao, who traded from a bedroom in his parents' home, pleaded guilty to illegally manipulating stock markets. US prosecutors had called for leniency, citing his cooperation and diagnosis with Asperger's syndrome. Judge Virginia Kendall of the northern district of Illinois imposed strict conditions, including a ban on gym visits, though the sentence's enforceability outside the US was briefly questioned.
The Department of Justice alleged Sarao earned over £45m ($70m) from his scheme, but noted his frugal lifestyle, including a childlike bedroom and use of McDonald's coupons. He lost over £40m to fraudulent investment schemes and surrendered $7.6m in partial satisfaction of a forfeiture order. Sarao told the court he had been addicted to trading and had found God, vowing never to break the law again.
