Software developer accused of aiding spoofing scheme renews motion for summary judgment
Jitesh Thakkar and Edge Financial Technologies, charged with aiding and abetting a spoofing scheme operated by Navinder Sarao, seek a summary judgment in the lawsuit brought against them by the CFTC.
Several months after the Illinois Northern District Court denied a motion by Jitesh Thakkar and Edge Financial Technologies, Inc. for a summary judgment in the lawsuit brought against them by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the defendants have renewed their attempts to secure a ruling in their favor.
On December 4, 2019, the defendants, which are accused of aiding and abetting a spoofing scheme operated by Navinder Sarao, filed a renewed motion for summary judgment with the Court.
Let’s recall that the when Court denied the first motion, it stated that the defendants could renew their motion after document discovery.
Shortly thereafter, Jitesh Thakkar filed a motion in the related criminal case to modify the protective order so that he could provide the CFTC with all the documents the DOJ produced to Jitesh Thakkar in discovery. After Judge Robert W. Gettleman granted Jitesh Thakkar’s motion, he copied and produced to the CFTC more than 800,000 pages of documents that the DOJ produced to him in the criminal case. The defendants also responded to the CFTC’s interrogatories and document requests in the civil case, producing another 1,068 pages of documents in addition to the voluminous documents previously produced by the defendants to the regulator.
Less than two weeks after the defendants’ production of discovery responses and documents, the CFTC sent thee defendants’ counsel notice of the CFTC’s intention to take depositions of four former Edge Financial employees. The CFTC offered no explanation as to why these depositions are necessary for it to respond to the defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment.
Jitesh Thakkar and Edge Financial Technologies, Inc. request that the Court grant their motion, enter judgment in their favor, award them their costs and fees, and grant such other or further relief as this Court deems proper. If the CFTC insists it needs additional discovery to respond to the motion, the defendants request that the Court order the CFTC to provide an affidavit or declaration outlining exactly what discovery it still needs.
In April this year, Jitesh Thakkar was acquitted on the conspiracy count in the criminal case brought by the Department of Justice against him. Soon after that, the Court declared a mistrial on the remaining aiding and abetting counts. Three jurors came out to speak to the attorneys and informed the attorneys that the jury voted 10 to 2 in favor of finding Jitesh Thakkar not guilty of the aiding and abetting charges. Following this result, the DOJ decided not to retry the case, and the Court dismissed the remaining counts against the defendant with prejudice.
