United States v. Aleynikov

Facts

Sergey Aleynikov (Defendant) was employed for two years as a computer programmer with Goldman Sachs. Defendant’s work focused on developing computer source code for the company’s electronic-trading system. Under the company’s confidentiality policy, Defendant was required to keep all the firm’s proprietary information—including intellectual property created by Defendant—confidential. The policy also prohibited Defendant from taking or using any intellectual property he created while employed by Goldman Sachs when Defendant’s employment ended. Defendant accepted a new position, and on his last day at Goldman Sachs, he encrypted and uploaded more than 500,000 lines of source code he had written while at Goldman Sachs to a server in Germany. When he returned home, Defendant downloaded the source code from the server to a home computer. Defendant later transferred the source code to a flash drive and laptop. Defendantwas subsequently arrested for violating the National Stolen Property Act (NSPA). At trial, Defendant moved to dismiss the indictment for failure to state an offense, which the district court denied. The district court held that, for purposes of the NSPA, the source code constituted goods that were stolen by Defendant. The court further denied Defendant’s argument that the NSPA did not apply to “intangible intellectual property,” such as the computer source code. The jury convicted Defendant, and Defendant appealed, arguing that the trial court erred when it denied his motion to dismiss.