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CONVICTION FOR UNLAWFUL USE OF SECRET SCIENTIFIC MATERIAL, STEMMING FROM DEFENDANT’S UPLOADING OF HIGH FREQUENCY TRADING SOURCE CODE OWNED BY GOLDMAN SACHS, AFFIRMED, SOURCE CODE HAD A PHYSICAL FORM AND WAS APPROPRIATED WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE STATUTE (CT APP).

The Court of Appeals, in a full-fledged opinion by Judge Fahey, affirming the Appellate Division, determined the evidence was sufficient to convict the defendant of violating Penal Law 165.07 (unlawful use of secret scientific material). Just before leaving the employ of Goldman Sachs to begin work at another company, the defendant had uploaded (copied) to a German server source code used by Goldman Sachs for high frequency trading. There was no evidence anyone other than the defendant had access to the uploaded source code. The major issues were whether the source code had a “physical form” or was “appropriated” within the mean of the statute:

… [W]e conclude that viewing the facts in the light most favorable to the People, a rational jury could have found that the “reproduction or representation” that defendant made of Goldman’s source code, when he uploaded it to the German server, was tangible in the sense of “material” or “having physical form.” The jury heard testimony that the representation of source code has physical form. … [T]he computer engineer … testified that while source code, as abstract intellectual property, does not have physical form, the “[r]epresentation of it” is material. He explained that when computer files are stored on a hard drive or CD, they are physically present on that hard drive or disc, and further stated that data is visible “in aggregate” when stored on such a medium. The jury also heard testimony that source code that is stored on a computer “takes up physical space in a computer hard drive.” Given that a reproduction of computer code takes up space on a drive, it is clear that it is physical in nature. In short, the changes that are made to the hard drive or disc, when code or other information is stored, are physical. * * *

We conclude that there is legally sufficient evidence that defendant created a tangible copy of the source code on the German server in violation of Penal Law § 165.07. * * *

… [W]e must decide is whether there is legally sufficient evidence that [defendant] had the necessary mens rea of “intent to appropriate . . . the use of secret scientific material” (Penal Law § 165.07).  * * *

Appropriation does not imply depriving another of property. In fact, larceny in general is defined as involving either intent to appropriate or intent to deprive, with the clear implication that the two terms refer to separate concepts. * * * … [D]efendant may have intended to “appropriate” the source code without intending to deprive Goldman of all possession or use. People v Aleynikov, 2018 NY Slip Op 03174, CtApp 5-3-18

​CRIMINAL LAW (CONVICTION FOR UNLAWFUL USE OF SECRET SCIENTIFIC MATERIAL, STEMMING FROM DEFENDANT’S UPLOADING OF HIGH FREQUENCY TRADING SOURCE CODE OWNED BY GOLDMAN SACHS, AFFIRMED, SOURCE CODE HAD A PHYSICAL FORM AND WAS APPROPRIATED WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE STATUTE (CT APP))/SECRET SCIENTIFIC MATERIAL (CRIMINAL LAW, CONVICTION FOR UNLAWFUL USE OF SECRET SCIENTIFIC MATERIAL, STEMMING FROM DEFENDANT’S UPLOADING OF HIGH FREQUENCY TRADING SOURCE CODE OWNED BY GOLDMAN SACHS, AFFIRMED, SOURCE CODE HAD A PHYSICAL FORM AND WAS APPROPRIATED WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE STATUTE (CT APP))/EVIDENCE (CRIMINAL LAW, CONVICTION FOR UNLAWFUL USE OF SECRET SCIENTIFIC MATERIAL, STEMMING FROM DEFENDANT’S UPLOADING OF HIGH FREQUENCY TRADING SOURCE CODE OWNED BY GOLDMAN SACHS, AFFIRMED, SOURCE CODE HAD A PHYSICAL FORM AND WAS APPROPRIATED WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE STATUTE (CT APP))/SOURCE CODE (CONVICTION FOR UNLAWFUL USE OF SECRET SCIENTIFIC MATERIAL, STEMMING FROM DEFENDANT’S UPLOADING OF HIGH FREQUENCY TRADING SOURCE CODE OWNED BY GOLDMAN SACHS, AFFIRMED, SOURCE CODE HAD A PHYSICAL FORM AND WAS APPROPRIATED WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE STATUTE (CT APP))/INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (CONVICTION FOR UNLAWFUL USE OF SECRET SCIENTIFIC MATERIAL, STEMMING FROM DEFENDANT’S UPLOADING OF HIGH FREQUENCY TRADING SOURCE CODE OWNED BY GOLDMAN SACHS, AFFIRMED, SOURCE CODE HAD A PHYSICAL FORM AND WAS APPROPRIATED WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE STATUTE (CT APP))

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