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Ex-HSBC Currency Trader Judge Orders Medical Treatment in Prison

Ex-HSBC Currency Trader Judge Orders Medical Treatment in Prison

(Bloomberg) -- Former HSBC Holdings Plc trader Mark Johnson, the first person to be convicted and imprisoned in a global crackdown on currency rigging, won’t be released to get medical treatment.

U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis turned down a request from Johnson’s lawyers to allow his temporary release. Garaufis sentenced Johnson last month to two-year prison term and had him immediately taken into custody, concluding that as a U.K. citizen, he was a flight risk.

On Thursday, Garaufis directed that Johnson be sent to the Federal Medical Center Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts for his medical treatment and then finish the remainder of his term at the low security federal prison in Allenwood, Pennsylvania.

In requesting Johnson’s release for treatment, lawyer John Wing said Johnson had returned to the U.S. even after injuring his knee. It’s unclear if his injury was sports related, but many of Johnson’s supporters wrote to Garaufis citing the trader’s involvement with local youth rugby teams and lauding him as a fierce rugby player.

Johnson was convicted last year of front-running a $3.5 billion client order in Dec. 2011 after a monthlong trial.

To contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Hurtado in Federal Court in Manhattan at pathurtado@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Paul Cox

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