The criminal case of the alleged Goldman spy is off and running, and it’s shaping up to be a good one. The case seems likely to open a window into the mysterious world of high-frequency trading and to shed some light inside Wall Street’s most notorious powerhouse, Goldman Sachs. But the lawsuit might do something else, too: It could test legal limits related to trade secrets — and cause angst far from the trading world.
The man of the hour is the defendant, Sergey Aleynikov. Aleynikov was a programmer in Goldman’s high-frequency trading group and is accused of taking code in order to help a new employer compete with Goldman. He disputes this and has said he intended to take some code, but not anything secret – just open-source code. The open-source part of that is crucial. (more)
Stayed tuned.
