Flash crash trader Navinder Singh Sarao bailed after declaring £25.5m in Swiss account

The west London trader accused of wiping billions from US stockmarket is to be released on bail after American authorities dropped their opposition to his release

Navinder Singh Sarao is accused of contributing to the 2010 flash crash Credit: Photo: Photograph © Copyright Julian Andrews/Eye R8 Productions Ltd.Not to be used in any way, either electronically or in print, wit

Navinder Singh Sarao, the trader accused of contributing to the 2010 flash crash, has been let out on bail today after the US authorities dropped their opposition to his release.

Mr Sarao, who has been in Wandsworth prison since his arrest in April, will be confined to within the M25 ahead of a full extradition hearing next month for a trial in the United States. He is also banned from using the internet for "fiscal transactions".

To address concerns that Mr Sarao was a flight risk, his US lawyers have set up an escrow account with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission to hold all of Mr Sarao's assets, including the £25.5m that he has now revealed is held in Swiss accounts as well as £5m held in a broking account with RJ O'Brien.

Of this sum, roughly £2.5m has been set aside to pay his legal costs. Some of his assets are tied up in long-term investments that cannot be released in full until 2017, but will be added to the escrow account once they are available, the court heard.

Mr Sarao is now released on bail while he awaits an extradition hearing

As a result, district judge Quentin Purdy at Wesminster Magistrates Court has dropped a requirement for Mr Sarao to post £5m security before his release on bail.

The new conditions enable Mr Sarao to return home to Hounslow, providing the rest of the requirements including reporting in with the police are respected, and ends an impasse that kept him imprisoned for more than 16 weeks.

He had previously said he was unable to pay the bail money as all of his funds were subject to a worldwide freezing order, and his lawyers mounted several unsuccessful challenges to the £5m condition including an appeal to the High Court. His family have already paid a £50,000 security into the court as part of the bail conditions that were set in April.

The court was also told on Friday that Mr Sarao has been diagnosed with severe Asperger's syndrome.

The 36-year-old financial trader is accused of helping precipitate a “flash crash” by making bogus offers to trade on one of the worlds' biggest financial markets.

Trades he made from his parents' house in Hounslow, west London in 2010 coincided with a multi-billion dollar plunge in the value of US shares, in a crash that began in the S&P derivatives market - where Mr Sarao traded almost exclusively - and soon spread to the Dow Jones index.

Mr Sarao faces extradition to the US on Department of Justice charges that carry a maximum sentence of 380 years if he is found guilty.

He has denied wrongdoing, telling the court in May: "I've not done anything wrong apart from being good at my job."