r/interesting • u/be_you_tiful- • 9d ago

Just Wow Bro cashed out way too much

Post image

A man working from his parents' house in West London made tens of millions of dollars trading futures from a bedroom filled with stuffed toys. His name is Navinder Singh Sarao, and he's on the autism spectrum.

There was no Wall Street trading floor. Sarao worked out of the family home in Hounslow, using a customized trading program on an ordinary desktop computer, and by most accounts he lived a pretty quiet life.

Then came May 6, 2010. In a matter of minutes, US stock markets plunged, and nearly $1 trillion in value briefly vanished before prices bounced back. It became known as the Flash Crash.

Years later, US authorities said Sarao's spoofing helped make it worse. Prosecutors said he placed large sell orders he never intended to fill, then canceled them, which pushed prices down so he could profit from the swings. They said his strategy was running on the day of the crash, and that he made more than $40 million from this kind of trading over several years.

Sarao fought extradition from the UK for years. He eventually pleaded guilty to wire fraud and spoofing in the US. His lawyers pointed to his autism, and the judge sentenced him to time served followed by home confinement rather than more prison time, citing his cooperation with prosecutors.

17.2k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

804 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/Ok-Budget3225 9d ago

What crime did he commit? You are allowed to cancel orders that haven’t executed yet 

2

u/InsectaProtecta 9d ago

You are not allowed to rapidly make large volume orders you never have any intention of fulfilling in order to manipulate stock prices

2

u/RecoverLive149 9d ago

How can they know his intention?

1

u/lifeisalime11 9d ago

This is like counting cards in a casino…. cmon now

2

u/SuperSiriusBlack 9d ago

It's like writing a program to count the cards for you, then order them in a way to deal you 21 every hand, but okay.

1

u/YungRik666 9d ago

That's also a dumb law. If they don't want to lose money at blackjack don't offer it at the casino. If the game can be cracked with math and a little patience then its a bad game to offer. Especially if the business is built on people losing

1

u/stormcharger 9d ago

It's not against the law, the casinos however are a private business and can trespass you for any reason, including counting cards

1

u/Formal_Evidence_4094 8d ago

that means it was a terrible comparison to start with , because market manipulation is an actual crime

1

u/RecoverLive149 8d ago

Market manipulation is only a crime if you are not well connected. ie. house always wins. When the house does not win, then its a crime

1

u/Dennis_enzo 8d ago

Counting cards is not illegal.