Today there was a hearing scheduled in United States v. Aleynikov. I haven't seen any reports of today's hearing. The docket sheet for PACER isn't showing any updates. (See update, below.) Bloomberg, however, is reporting:
Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. computer programmer Sergey Aleynikov, who was charged last month with stealing sophisticated trading software, wants his criminal case to be dismissed.
At a hearing in Manhattan federal court on Aug. 10, defense attorney Sabrina Shroff said she will seek to persuade prosecutors to enter into a rare “deferred prosecution” agreement.
That outcome would not surprise me. The prosecution of Aleynikov is a scadal. He was arrested less than 48 hours after Goldman Sachs called the FBI on him. His crime? He allegedly stole a few lines of computer code from Goldman Sachs.
The prosecutor, Joseph Facciponti, told a federal judge that the computer code "theft" could cost Goldman Sachs millions of dollars. The prosecutor also said that the software could be used to "manipulate markets." Soon thereafter, the New York Times and other media outlets began reporting on Goldman Sachs' high frequency trading software.
A public trial of Aleynikov would expose Goldman Sachs. After receiving too much attention, Goldman Sachs told the United States Attorneys Office to back off. It seems that the same prosecutor who lied in open court is all too willing to do Goldman's bidding.
UPDATE: Reuters has this important update.
