Three charged with stealing source code, data from trading firm

By Joseph Ax

NEW YORK | Mon Aug 26, 2013 12:37pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two men have been charged by New York prosecutors with stealing secret computer code from a high-frequency trading firm in an effort to start their own business.

Jason Vuu, a former trader at Flow Traders LLC in Manhattan, was charged with emailing himself trading strategies, valuation algorithms and proprietary code from the firm and sharing the code with another man, Simon Lu, according to criminal complaints filed by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance.

Another former trader at Flow Traders, Glen Cressman, was charged with copying files containing trading strategies and valuation algorithms without permission, the complaints said.

Paul Shechtman, a lawyer for Lu, and Jeremy Saland, a lawyer for Vuu, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.

Charles Ross, who represents Cressman, said his client was innocent.

"He was a fine employee, and when everything about the case is aired, it will be clear he did nothing wrong," Ross said.

The arrests came a year after Vance's office charged former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. programmer Sergey Aleynikov with stealing secret trading code. Aleynikov was convicted in federal court for the same actions, but his conviction was thrown out in February 2012 by an appeals court, which said federal espionage laws did not cover his alleged theft.

Vance then charged Aleynikov under New York state law. Earlier this year, a judge denied Aleynikov's attempt to have the state charges dismissed on double jeopardy grounds. Aleynikov, who pleaded not guilty, is free on bail.

Both Vance and Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, whose office brought the initial case against Aleynikov, have made combating computer crime and corporate espionage a top priority.

Lu, Vuu and Cressman all face multiple counts of unlawful duplication of computer-related material and unauthorized use of secret scientific material, the same charges Aleynikov is facing. The charges carry up to four years in prison.

Vuu sent copies of files from his work email account to his personal email address 10 times from August 2011 to August 2012, the complaint alleged. He also shared source code with Lu via the file-hosting service Dropbox after Lu suggested the code could help them start their own firm, according to the complaint.

Cressman's personal email account received copied files containing trading strategies and valuation algorithms twice in December 2012, according to the complaint.

The charges were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Dan Grebler)

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Three charged with stealing source code, data from trading firm

By Joseph Ax

NEW YORK | Mon Aug 26, 2013 12:37pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two men have been charged by New York prosecutors with stealing secret computer code from a high-frequency trading firm in an effort to start their own business.

Jason Vuu, a former trader at Flow Traders LLC in Manhattan, was charged with emailing himself trading strategies, valuation algorithms and proprietary code from the firm and sharing the code with another man, Simon Lu, according to criminal complaints filed by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance.

Another former trader at Flow Traders, Glen Cressman, was charged with copying files containing trading strategies and valuation algorithms without permission, the complaints said.

Paul Shechtman, a lawyer for Lu, and Jeremy Saland, a lawyer for Vuu, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.

Charles Ross, who represents Cressman, said his client was innocent.

"He was a fine employee, and when everything about the case is aired, it will be clear he did nothing wrong," Ross said.

The arrests came a year after Vance's office charged former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. programmer Sergey Aleynikov with stealing secret trading code. Aleynikov was convicted in federal court for the same actions, but his conviction was thrown out in February 2012 by an appeals court, which said federal espionage laws did not cover his alleged theft.

Vance then charged Aleynikov under New York state law. Earlier this year, a judge denied Aleynikov's attempt to have the state charges dismissed on double jeopardy grounds. Aleynikov, who pleaded not guilty, is free on bail.

Both Vance and Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, whose office brought the initial case against Aleynikov, have made combating computer crime and corporate espionage a top priority.

Lu, Vuu and Cressman all face multiple counts of unlawful duplication of computer-related material and unauthorized use of secret scientific material, the same charges Aleynikov is facing. The charges carry up to four years in prison.

Vuu sent copies of files from his work email account to his personal email address 10 times from August 2011 to August 2012, the complaint alleged. He also shared source code with Lu via the file-hosting service Dropbox after Lu suggested the code could help them start their own firm, according to the complaint.

Cressman's personal email account received copied files containing trading strategies and valuation algorithms twice in December 2012, according to the complaint.

The charges were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Dan Grebler)

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Three charged with stealing source code, data from trading firm

By Joseph Ax

NEW YORK | Mon Aug 26, 2013 12:37pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two men have been charged by New York prosecutors with stealing secret computer code from a high-frequency trading firm in an effort to start their own business.

Jason Vuu, a former trader at Flow Traders LLC in Manhattan, was charged with emailing himself trading strategies, valuation algorithms and proprietary code from the firm and sharing the code with another man, Simon Lu, according to criminal complaints filed by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance.

Another former trader at Flow Traders, Glen Cressman, was charged with copying files containing trading strategies and valuation algorithms without permission, the complaints said.

Paul Shechtman, a lawyer for Lu, and Jeremy Saland, a lawyer for Vuu, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.

Charles Ross, who represents Cressman, said his client was innocent.

"He was a fine employee, and when everything about the case is aired, it will be clear he did nothing wrong," Ross said.

The arrests came a year after Vance's office charged former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. programmer Sergey Aleynikov with stealing secret trading code. Aleynikov was convicted in federal court for the same actions, but his conviction was thrown out in February 2012 by an appeals court, which said federal espionage laws did not cover his alleged theft.

Vance then charged Aleynikov under New York state law. Earlier this year, a judge denied Aleynikov's attempt to have the state charges dismissed on double jeopardy grounds. Aleynikov, who pleaded not guilty, is free on bail.

Both Vance and Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, whose office brought the initial case against Aleynikov, have made combating computer crime and corporate espionage a top priority.

Lu, Vuu and Cressman all face multiple counts of unlawful duplication of computer-related material and unauthorized use of secret scientific material, the same charges Aleynikov is facing. The charges carry up to four years in prison.

Vuu sent copies of files from his work email account to his personal email address 10 times from August 2011 to August 2012, the complaint alleged. He also shared source code with Lu via the file-hosting service Dropbox after Lu suggested the code could help them start their own firm, according to the complaint.

Cressman's personal email account received copied files containing trading strategies and valuation algorithms twice in December 2012, according to the complaint.

The charges were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Dan Grebler)

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Three charged with stealing source code, data from trading firm

By Joseph Ax

NEW YORK | Mon Aug 26, 2013 12:37pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two men have been charged by New York prosecutors with stealing secret computer code from a high-frequency trading firm in an effort to start their own business.

Jason Vuu, a former trader at Flow Traders LLC in Manhattan, was charged with emailing himself trading strategies, valuation algorithms and proprietary code from the firm and sharing the code with another man, Simon Lu, according to criminal complaints filed by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance.

Another former trader at Flow Traders, Glen Cressman, was charged with copying files containing trading strategies and valuation algorithms without permission, the complaints said.

Paul Shechtman, a lawyer for Lu, and Jeremy Saland, a lawyer for Vuu, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.

Charles Ross, who represents Cressman, said his client was innocent.

"He was a fine employee, and when everything about the case is aired, it will be clear he did nothing wrong," Ross said.

The arrests came a year after Vance's office charged former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. programmer Sergey Aleynikov with stealing secret trading code. Aleynikov was convicted in federal court for the same actions, but his conviction was thrown out in February 2012 by an appeals court, which said federal espionage laws did not cover his alleged theft.

Vance then charged Aleynikov under New York state law. Earlier this year, a judge denied Aleynikov's attempt to have the state charges dismissed on double jeopardy grounds. Aleynikov, who pleaded not guilty, is free on bail.

Both Vance and Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, whose office brought the initial case against Aleynikov, have made combating computer crime and corporate espionage a top priority.

Lu, Vuu and Cressman all face multiple counts of unlawful duplication of computer-related material and unauthorized use of secret scientific material, the same charges Aleynikov is facing. The charges carry up to four years in prison.

Vuu sent copies of files from his work email account to his personal email address 10 times from August 2011 to August 2012, the complaint alleged. He also shared source code with Lu via the file-hosting service Dropbox after Lu suggested the code could help them start their own firm, according to the complaint.

Cressman's personal email account received copied files containing trading strategies and valuation algorithms twice in December 2012, according to the complaint.

The charges were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Dan Grebler)

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

SNB says UBS can repurchase StabFund within three months

An illuminated logo of Swiss bank UBS is pictured on an office building in Lucerne February 16, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Michael Buholzer

ZURICH | Fri Aug 16, 2013 2:24am EDT

ZURICH (Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank (SNB) said on Friday the stabilization fund it set up five years ago to bail out Swiss bank UBS (UBSN.VX) had repaid the loan granted by the SNB, allowing UBS to go ahead with its plan to repurchase the once-toxic assets.

UBS may now exercise an option to repurchase the StabFund from the SNB. The price will be determined based on the value of the assets in the portfolio that will be valued by independent agents, the Swiss central bank said in a statement.

In autumn 2008, the Swiss government, the Swiss financial markets watchdog and the SNB adopted measures to rescue UBS, the country's biggest bank, including the acquisition of $38.7 billion in illiquid assets by the SNB which have since turned profitable.

The asset valuation and completion of the purchase option transaction are expected to take approximately three months.

In July UBS said it would repay the loan and buy back equity in the fund, adding that the move was expected to bolster its capital.

UBS will have to pay the SNB $1 billion plus half of the fund's net asset value in excess of this amount. The fund's equity amounted to $5.5 billion at the end of 2012.

(Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz; Editing by David Cowell)

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

SNB says UBS can repurchase StabFund within three months

An illuminated logo of Swiss bank UBS is pictured on an office building in Lucerne February 16, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Michael Buholzer

ZURICH | Fri Aug 16, 2013 2:24am EDT

ZURICH (Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank (SNB) said on Friday the stabilization fund it set up five years ago to bail out Swiss bank UBS (UBSN.VX) had repaid the loan granted by the SNB, allowing UBS to go ahead with its plan to repurchase the once-toxic assets.

UBS may now exercise an option to repurchase the StabFund from the SNB. The price will be determined based on the value of the assets in the portfolio that will be valued by independent agents, the Swiss central bank said in a statement.

In autumn 2008, the Swiss government, the Swiss financial markets watchdog and the SNB adopted measures to rescue UBS, the country's biggest bank, including the acquisition of $38.7 billion in illiquid assets by the SNB which have since turned profitable.

The asset valuation and completion of the purchase option transaction are expected to take approximately three months.

In July UBS said it would repay the loan and buy back equity in the fund, adding that the move was expected to bolster its capital.

UBS will have to pay the SNB $1 billion plus half of the fund's net asset value in excess of this amount. The fund's equity amounted to $5.5 billion at the end of 2012.

(Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz; Editing by David Cowell)

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.