A lawyer for a former Goldman Sachs programmer charged twice with stealing secret computer code from the bank sharply criticized both Goldman and the government in New York state court on Thursday.
“He left Russia for freedom, justice, and the American way and he got Franz Kafka and Goldman Sachs,†said Kevin Marino, the lawyer for Sergey Aleynikov, the former programmer.
On Thursday, Mr. Aleynikov pleaded not guilty to the state charges. He appeared at his arraignment before Justice Ronald A. Zweibel after a New York state grand jury handed up an indictment earlier this week. The Manhattan district attorney's office arrested Mr. Aleynikov this summer, accusing him of stealing proprietary software for Goldman's high-frequency trading business as he was leaving to join a hedge fund.
There was a Groundhog Day quality to Thursday's proceedings. More than three years ago, Mr. Aleynikov appeared in Federal District Court in Manhattan - just around the cor ner from New York state court - to plead not guilty to similar charges brought by the United States attorney in Manhattan.
In 2010, a jury convicted him and a judge sentenced him to an eight-year prison term. But a federal appeals court reversed that conviction this year, finding that prosecutors misapplied the federal corporate-theft laws against him. Mr. Aleynikov was released from a jail after being incarcerated for about a year.
It is unusual for the federal government and state authorities to both charge an individual with crimes related to the same underlying set of facts. Under the double jeopardy clause of the Constitution, a person cannot be tried twice for the same offense. Under a legal doctrine called “dual sovereignty,†however, federal and state prosecutors can charge an individual for the same underlying offense under different laws.
Just three months after his release from federal prison, the Manhattan district attorney charged Mr. Aleyn ikov with the unlawful use of secret scientific material and duplication of computer-related material, both felonies under New York State law. If convicted, he could serve one to four years in prison.
Mr. Marino used Thursday's arraignment to lambaste the Manhattan district attorney's office for charging Mr. Aleynikov after his federal conviction had been overturned and he had already served a year in prison. He also took aim at Goldman Sachs, suggesting that the bank was behind the government's aggressive prosecution of Mr. Aleynikov.
“Here he is in the well of another courtroom facing the exact same charge because Goldman Sachs has enormous power and they are bringing it to bear in this case,†said Mr. Marino. “If you mess with Goldman Sachs you better get ready for the fight of your life.â€
On Tuesday, Mr. Marino sued Goldman in Federal District Court in New Jersey, demanding that the firm indemnify him for roughly $2.4 million in legal bills tha t he has racked up since his arrest more than three years ago.
A Goldman spokesman, Michael DuVally, declined to comment.
