Ex-Goldman Sachs programmer found guilty

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A former programmer at Goldman Sachs was found guilty on Friday of stealing computer code from the bank.

The jury found Sergei Aleynikov, 40, guilty on one count of economic espionage and one count of transporting stolen goods across state lines.

The jury returned its verdict after a short deliberation, which began on Thursday afternoon after a two-week trial.

Aleynikov was arrested in July 2009, a month after he left Goldman to work for a start-up trading firm. Aleynikov had worked on the high-frequency trading desk at Goldman and the new firm, Teza, was trying to build its own trading platform.

During closing arguments on Thursday, government prosecutors called Aleynikov a “thief.”

Aleynikov’s lawyers did not deny that he took code but they said that it should have been the subject of a civil lawsuit, not a criminal prosecution.

Aleynikov could face up to 15 years in jail. He is set to be sentenced in March.

-- Nathaniel Popper