Mr Coscia, owner of Panther Energy Trading, potentially faces a 25-year prison sentence if he loses. Spoofing is the practice of buying and rapidly selling a stock or commodity in order to manipulate the price of a stock by persuading others to trade. Mr Coscia is accused of doing this in relation to gold and other futures, making a profit of US$1.6b.

Broad swath

Mr Coscia's lawyer challenges the provision. A motion filed by him, seeking to dismiss the case reads : 'Basic principles of due process... do not permit a statute to sweep in a broad swath of conduct without a standard for separating the lawful from the unlawful. That is precisely what the ‘anti-spoofing’ provision does.' Source: Financial Times