While his former colleague was arrested as he was about to board a plane at a New York City airport in July last year, Stuart Scott, the former head of HSBC Holdings PLC’s currency trading in Europe, has remained free at home in suburban London.
That came to an abrupt end on Monday when UK authorities arrested the 44-year-old Scott, at the request of the US government, federal prosecutors told a US judge in Brooklyn, New York, in a letter filed on Wednesday.
He appeared at a London court on the same day and was bailed for ￡100,000 (US$129,000), a UK court clerk said by telephone on Thursday.
Since last year, prosecutors have been attempting to bring Scott to the US to face charges that he and Mark Johnson schemed to rig foreign-exchange markets, in the first US case of its kind.
Johnson, HSBC’s global head of foreign-exchange cash trading in London, has pleaded not guilty and is free on bond.
“Our client strongly denies the allegations,” said Anne Davies, a UK lawyer for Scott. “Given there are ongoing proceedings, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”
Johnson and Scott allegedly manipulated the pound in a front-running scheme to take advantage of inside information about a client’s US$3.5 billion currency transaction, reaping US$8 million for the bank.
Scott, who reported to Johnson, left the bank in 2014.
Scott “conspired with others to defraud Cairn Energy PLC within the territory of New York,” according to the charge listed in UK court filings and a two-day extradition hearing is scheduled for July 31 at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London, the court clerk said.
Should Scott decide to fight extradition to the US it could be at least another year until he is on a plane. The first court decision is usually appealed by the losing party and a backlog of cases in UK courts can see months between hearings.
Navinder Singh Sarao, the British trader accused of making US$40 million by spoofing markets from his bedroom, fought extradition for 18 months before he was sent to the US last year.
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