JPMorgan Trader Spoofed So Fast Colleagues Urged Ice on Fingers

Gregg Smith clicked his computer mouse so rapidly to place and cancel bogus gold and silver orders for Bear Stearns Cos. and later JPMorgan Chase & Co. that his colleagues would joke that he needed to put ice on his fingers to cool them down afterward, or that he must be double-jointed.

That’s how his former protege, Christian Trunz, described for jurors how he watched Smith use so-called “spoof” trades -- large orders intended to manipulate prices that were quickly canceled. Trunz, 37, said he learned how to spoof from Smith and others after joining Bear Stearns out of ...