http://www.reuters.com/article/ousivMolt/idUSTRE5667JR20090707
CHICAGO (Reuters) - In the world of automated trading, fortunes are made in less than the blink of an eye.
That wealth is generated on computer systems that can handle greater trading volumes at ever increasing speeds. These platforms often rely on algorithms -- a sequence of instructions used for calculation and data processing -- that can spot unseen opportunities in the market and give their users a huge advantage measured in milliseconds.
For banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N), the codes are worth a fortune and this value also make them a tempting target for thieves -- as appears to have happened with Sergey Aleynikov, a former computer programer at Goldman arrested by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation last Friday.
"The risks of trying to steal a trading model are very high," said David Easthope, a senior analyst at Celent, which is part of the Oliver Wyman Group. "But the potential reward is very, very high because when you look at investment banks, they've made higher and higher profits" from automated trading.
Goldman in particular has had a "great last few months" thanks to a trading model that has enabled it to "take the right risk at the right time," Easthope added.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124688855704700671.html
A Goldman Sachs Group Inc. computer programmer who quit last month was arrested and charged with stealing codes related to a high-speed trading program that he helped develop.
The programmer, Sergey Aleynikov, 39 years old, was arrested Friday by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents as he got off a plane at Newark Liberty International Airport. According to a complaint filed Saturday, Mr. Aleynikov downloaded 32 megabytes of data from Goldman's computer system with "the intent to convert that trade secret to the economic benefit of someone other than the owner."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/07/alleged-goldman-spy-serge_n_226965.html If it sounds odd, well, it is. At one point, Aleynikov is set up on a date with a man in drag, and appears to pay a matchmaker to find him a woman who, he says, "must be over 21."
Entitled "Love Story," the video's sound has been stripped out, though there are a few title cards describing the action. Dealbreaker suggests that some higher-up intentionally removed the sound on the clip.
