A man was arrested on Tuesday in London on behalf of American authorities, who have accused him of orchestrating the infamous "flash crash" of May 2010 , when the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 600 points within minutes.

After Navinder Singh Sarao was taken into custody, federal prosecutors unsealed a criminal complaint against him, and the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) also unsealed a related civil case. Prosecutors will now begin the process of attempting to extradite Sarao to the US. He operated from his home in west London, as a one-man firm: "Nav Sarao Futures Limited."

Sarao has been charged with one count of wire fraud, 10 counts of commodities fraud, 10 counts of commodities manipulation, and one count of "spoofing," where a bid or offer is canceled before it is actually executed.

In a statement, prosecutors claim that he used a "dynamic layering" setup to fraudulently alter the price of E-mini Standard & Poor’s 500 near month futures contract, which are only sold on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. As they wrote:

By allegedly placing multiple, simultaneous, large-volume sell orders at different price points—a technique known as "layering"—Sarao created the appearance of substantial supply in the market. As part of the scheme, Sarao allegedly modified these orders frequently so that they remained close to the market price, and typically canceled the orders without executing them. When prices fell as a result of this activity, Sarao allegedly sold futures contracts only to buy them back at a lower price. Conversely, when the market moved back upward as the market activity ceased, Sarao allegedly bought contracts only to sell them at a higher price.

Just one month earlier Sarao also created a company in the Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis, a well-known offshore financial hub, with the name: "Nav Sarao Milking Markets Limited."

Sarao was reportedly able to continue this practice through the present, profiting over $40 million.

"Protecting the integrity and stability of the U.S. futures markets is critical to ensuring a properly functioning financial system," Aitan Goelmans, the CFTC Director of Enforcement said in a statement. "Today’s actions make clear that the CFTC, working with its partners on the criminal side, will find and prosecute manipulators of U.S. futures markets wherever they may be."