Jurors mulling ex-Jefferies trader's fate stall on two fraud counts

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (Reuters) - The U.S. jury weighing whether former Jefferies Group bond trader Jesse Litvak fraudulently cheated his customers on bond prices was struggling on Wednesday to reach a verdict, appearing to have deadlocked on two of the 10 securities fraud counts the defendant faced.

"I read it as if they have a partial verdict; I don't know that," Chief Judge Janet Hall told prosecutors and defense lawyers assembled in her New Haven, Connecticut federal courtroom.

She said she plans to give jurors a special charge to see if they can resolve their disagreement on the remaining counts, following roughly four days of deliberations. It is unclear what jurors may have decided on the other eight counts.

Litvak, who worked in Jefferies' office in Stamford, Connecticut, was accused of generating $2.25 million of illegal profit by misleading customers including AllianceBernstein and Soros Fund Management about bond prices from 2009 to 2011.

The defendant had been found guilty of the same fraud counts and other charges in March 2014, only to have that verdict and his two-year prison sentence overturned on appeal. A retrial began early this month.

(Reporting by Andy Thibault in New Haven, Connecticut; Editing by Chris Reese)