It seems to me the guy is a scapegoat. What he did is likely illegal market manipulation (placing orders and canceling them before they are executed to give a false impression of a price / volume / something else); I am not defending that; but 300+ years?
I really doubt though that the amount he presumably won (much less than $50M) can be responsible for a significant financial event such as a flash crash at a world's major stock exchange. I suspect high frequency traders regularly affect markets in a much more significant ways (e.g., I think generating large volume via zero-sum trades than withdrawing from trading could cause significant pricing swings).
I agree with you on this. I work in finance, and one of the many hats I wear at a small shop is regulatory analyst (basically, I run/create the specialized reports when FINRA, SEC, etc come knocking). +300 years seems excessive, but the financial penalties seem apt: forfeit your ill-gotten gains plus a topper.
An aside: I've always found sentences such as 300 years to be absurd (unless they run concurrent). Why not just call it life and be done with it? Or, is the judge trying to make a statement like the judge in Texas that recently set bail at $4 billion for an accused murder (who turned his self in)?
I really doubt though that the amount he presumably won (much less than $50M) can be responsible for a significant financial event such as a flash crash at a world's major stock exchange. I suspect high frequency traders regularly affect markets in a much more significant ways (e.g., I think generating large volume via zero-sum trades than withdrawing from trading could cause significant pricing swings).