It was big news when ex-Goldman Sachs computer programmer Sergey Aleynikov was arrested a year and a half ago, shortly after he left the firm to take a job with Teza Technologies. The headlines were fairly damning and the media used the event as a hook to discuss internal theft and security issues in this era of algorithmic high-frequency trading.

This case seems like it has been going on forever. So, it's a good thing perhaps that the trial is finally in full swing. Aleynikov, 40, has been charged with theft of trade secrets and transportation of stolen property. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

The prosecutors are aiming to paint a picture of a man who plotted to steal proprietary code to build a trading system for a new employer, who located and used a computer server in Germany that wasn't firewalled by the firm, who wrote a program specifically to download code and who deleted files to cover his tracks. You get the idea. Aleynikov's team says he was merely using open source code that wasn't owned by Goldman Sachs.

Some have styled him as something of a nerd hero, bravely taking on a corporate giant and powerful prosecutors. One thing is for sure, he was well paid. Goldman was paying him $400,000 a year when he left. Teza had offered him a $300,000 in salary, $700,000 in bonus money and a profit-sharing cut.

For more:
- here's the Reuters article

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