...oh wait that already happened.

I can see wanting more money, even though you make 300k/year. For some, there is no such thing as enough. But as a former professional gambler, and given the guy had other, legal options, I can only think "Dumb move, buddy."

I can't wait to see what Matt Taibbi (longtime journalist in Russia and recent commentator on Goldman Sachs in Rolling Stone) has to say about this!

Goldman Sachs knows what it's like to be the screwee rather then the screwer. . .

I'm sure it's terribly un-Amerikan to suggest this, but technically at least an indictment isn't actually a conviction. Or proof of anything, in fact. Saying things as presented in an indictment don't "look good" is like saying the Left Behind series "presents a compelling case for imminent rapture." That's kind of the whole idea of the document - the theory is that "journalists" are smart enough to recognize that an indictment is a one-sided affair, by definition.

I suppose it is alot easier just to jump on the bandwagon and declare guilt by government fiat. In fact, this whole "fair trial" thing is a waste of time anyway - let the mob decide who is guilty (besides he Russian - obviously a terrorist, or something). I'm mean, anyone who might suggest that an upstanding firm like Goldman Sachs could possibly be less than truthful about such a case - or that they might get, oh I dunno, preferential treatment in pushing to prosecute an ex-employee working for a competitor, is nothing but a conspiracy theory kook - lock them in Gitmo and waterboard them, that'll teach them to question The Word From Above.

Deeply disappointed. When all it takes is a lopsided indictment to spin off into fantastical, "humorous" joking about a person's life, the slide to mob rule is all but complete. I know exactly nothing about the underlying case - but unlike "journalists" who pretend otherwise, I don't pretend to have any insight into what's actually happening. To do that, I'd need to gather info from MORE THAN ONE SOURCE - a revolutionary concept, perhaps even a dangerous one in these times of propaganda masquerading as "facts."

Why is Matt Goldstein credited with breaking this story if he got it from Zero Hedge?

over a million dollars a year? Seems to be pretty clueless for a "cyberpunk".

There are all kinds of interesting questions surrounding this:

What was his motive for doing it? To sell it plus himself to his new employer, or was it motivated out of some sense of altruism -- leveling a playing field which as a GS insider, he knew to be stacked to his company's favor?

Is it a coincidence that he's Russian, or is that a central component of the story?

If independent analysts got their hands on the source code, would they see some of the underlying gears of the plunge protection team? Would they see the mechanisms by which GS can game certain markets?

Will Serge spill all to Matt Taibbi? Which Masters of the Universe will be fingered?

Yeah, right. It's sophisticated card-counting software. It's GS's attempt to game the system, pick buys and sells before anyone else can. Now it's out there on the interwebs for all to see and play with and...improve upon. No wonder GS is pissed. Made my Monday, though.

I hope Serge gets a good lawyer and gets off scott-free. :)

... is not the fact that someone did or did not steal code.

I can't help suspecting GS is trying to punish the man for leaving and joining its enemy. Indeed, a main motif in Cyberpunk settings is the overarching and near slavemaster-like power the mega coroporations have over their "employees". This case has a whiff of that.

Is this fancy arbitrage software? If so, a simple solution for to stop this kind of gaming the system is Dean Bakers financial transaction tax. In short, it's a tax of .25 of 1% on every financial transaction: buy, sell, shorts, options on all derivatives. That would completely stop arbitrage and encourage long term investing.

Getting back on point, how does this software make GS money? I'm curious if it's through arbitrage, manipulating markets, or just faster information.

Including from tecchies about various aspects of the code.

There's some skepticism as to whether it's as big a story as it seems, even speculation that the whole thing was planned by GS to mask some other foul doings.

German authorities should seize this criminal evidence and carefully disassemble it, in order to help prosecute our Russian cyberthief and also to see whether GS is or was trading illegally when they manipulated the subprime collapse and the recession to profit from the world's misery.

From the Zero Hedge article:

"If only the FBI were to tackle cases of national security and loss of life with the same speed and precision as they confront presumed high-frequency program trading industrial espionage cases... especially those that allegedly involve Goldman Sachs."

GS pwns BO. We don't have a President, we have a Puppet-in-Chief.

unless the boys at Treasury, and the Fed tell you what to do. sigh, this is all so silly.

So let me get this straight. the guy was making 400K a year. He was about to make 1.2 meg a year and still he needed to steal?

Wow.

As for who would play him in as movie? why Sasha Baron Cohen of course.

Really more of a Shadowrun fan... but happy to see Andrew's CP reference and Chris W's comments too. If only all Gamers would use their powers for good or at least for not evil. Finding the loopholes in character construction? = Not Evil. Finding it in US Tax Code and allowing some to shift their tax burden to everyone else...?

How does the software make $$

They make money the old-fashioned way: by rigging the markets.

"The bank has raised the possibility that there is a danger that somebody who knew how to use this program could use it to manipulate markets in unfair ways"

Let's see.... so someone who knows how to use this program can use it to manipulate markets can they?

Is that manipulation "in fair ways" if Goldman uses it, but "unfair ways' if someone other than Goldman uses it?

http://market-ticker.org/archives/1183-US-Attorney-Kicks-Own-Goal-On-Goldman.html

It was a foregone conclusion that automating markets for efficiency would also allow for automating racketeering and fraud.

What has come to light in this incident is the fact that Goldman Sachs has been engaging in fraud on a massive scale. The fraud has now been exposed and demands prosecution.

I'm very disappointed that the accusation of treachery is leveled exclusively at some Russian programmer in this article, and not at all at the vastly greater pirate, Goldman Sachs.

I ask you, how was that missed?