Accused insider trader facing 'cruel' treatment
Date March 18, 2013
Australian financial analyst Trent Martin is suffering ''bizarre and cruel'' treatment while languishing in abysmal conditions in a Hong Kong jail, his US lawyer says.
Mr Martin, 33, made worldwide headlines late last year when US prosecutors alleged he was a key figure in an insider trading scandal involving IBM's secret $US1.2 billion ($1.15 billion) takeover of software company SPSS.
Mr Martin was arrested in Hong Kong on December 23 and just days later agreed to be extradited to New York, but has remained behind bars in Hong Kong.
''The problem we have encountered is that Mr Martin's extradition has dragged on for over two months, with no imminent end in sight,'' his New York lawyer Larry Krantz wrote in a letter to US District Court Judge Andrew Carter.
Mr Martin, after agreeing not to fight extradition, would have expected to have been back in the US in January, Washington DC international criminal law expert Douglas McNabb said.
Mr Krantz said Hong Kong authorities signed the extradition order on March 1 but the matter is now in the hands of the US Marshals, who will be responsible for getting Mr Martin to New York.
Mr Martin has been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and one count of securities fraud.
If convicted of both, he faces up to 25 years in a US prison and more than $US5 million in fines.
He is likely to receive bail when he arrives in New York.
AAP
