A former senior bond trader at TD Securities in New York has been charged with attempting to “deceive and defraud” the US Treasuries market

A former senior bond trader at TD Securities in New York has been charged with attempting to “deceive and defraud” the US Treasuries market in an alleged scheme that involved placing a number of fake orders to create a false impression of true supply or demand to counterparties.

A former senior bond trader at TD Securities in New York, Jeyakumar Nadarajah, has been charged with attempting to "deceive and defraud" the US Treasuries market in an alleged year-long scheme. The federal indictment, unsealed on Wednesday, includes 16 counts such as wire fraud, securities fraud, and securities manipulation. Nadarajah is accused of engaging in "spoofing" and "layering," placing fake orders to create a false impression of true supply or demand in the market.

The indictment covers the period between April 2018 and May 2019 when Nadarajah was the head of the US Treasuries trading desk at TD Securities.

The bank could not be reached for comment, and Jefferies, where Nadarajah worked after leaving TD Securities, declined to comment.

Prosecutors said his aim was “to fraudulently induce other market participants to trade at prices, quantities and times that they otherwise would not have traded”.