Re: Does not compute...
"This I cannot quite understand. "
Maybe because the Beeb don't understand it and have got their facts wrong. Or because the Feds' case is a load of old horse sh**. Or both.
In the wider scheme of things, you have to ask yourself whether you believe one day trader in a scummy part of London was able to bring down the financial might of the US of A, and to be smarter than than the crooks of Wall Street in turning nothing into money and manipulating markets?
My guess is that the flash crash was 100% prime American product, but the US regulators don't want to admit that their ineptitude and the greed of Wall Street are at fault. Far better to try and tar London (and if possible UK financial regulation). If some (relatively) ordinary joe has his life made hell, so what? Gary Mckinnon can talk to a similar story about the petty, enduring spite of Merkin bureaucrats, as can a whole assortment of US-based whistleblowers.