Wolf of Wall St? More like Hound of Hounslow...
HE IS the ‘high-frequency geek’ accused of wiping half a trillion pounds off the US stock markets in five minutes. The brazen British trader who allegedly told suspicious American officials just days later to ‘kiss my a***’.
But Navinder Singh Sarao is no ‘Wolf of Wall Street’. Instead, the man accused of triggering the 2010 ‘Flash Crash’ operated from his parents’ modest three-bedroom semidetached house in west London.
The 36-year-old trader, dubbed the ‘Hound of Hounslow’, lives with his parents and drove their beaten-up Vauxhall Corsa. Schoolfriends recalled a ‘prankster who never got caught’.
Granting Sarao bail yesterday, even District Judge Quentin Purdy appeared a little sympathetic, telling him: ‘I suspect the last 24 hours have been somewhat traumatic for you.’
Sarao was granted bail until May 26 in return for a £5 million security. Just how a man who lives with his parents in a London suburb can raise £5 million will be of interest to the authorities. Born in Hounslow, Sarao excelled at Heston Community College. He studied maths and science at A-Level and graduated from Brunel University in west London.
Neighbour Anil Puri said Sarao’s mother Darshaw Kaur Sarao used to work two jobs as the father Nachhattar Singh Sarao was diabetic and could not work.
Sarao’s brother Jasvinder is an optometrist and director of Specsavers, while his other brother Rajvinder lives with his wife and two children opposite his parents and works in IT.
Sarao’s form tutor at Heston said he was a bright pupil who liked having fun.
Beverley Fielder-Rowe said: ‘He was a very likeable young man. He was very intelligent.
‘I was his form tutor – I taught him from the age of 11 until the age of 1 – and I thought he was just like any other boy. I would not have expected something like this.
‘He was full of fun. He was a good all-rounder. If he set his mind to it, he could do it.’