Men charged with stealing former employer's source code

Glen Cressman and Jason Vuu have both been charged with unlawful duplication of computer related material and unauthorised use of secret scientific material, according to a report by Bloomberg news agency. Both men emailed themselves source code owned by their then employer Flow Traders, a company that conducts automated trading using specialist software developed in-house, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office has claimed that Vuu shared the software code he allegedly stole with Simon Lu with the purpose of setting up their own trading company, the Bloomberg report said. Lu has been charged with unlawfully duplicating computer related material and making unauthorised use of secret scientific material, it said.

"I’m confident that when the DA’s office has completed their investigation they will find Flow Traders did not suffer any economic loss," Vuu's lawyer said, according to the Bloomberg report. "Their algorithms and code weren’t taken or used in any malicious way that damaged or compromised their financial security."

According to a document published by on the NewYorkCourts.gov website, a person is guilty of unlawful duplication of computer related material under New York state law "when having no right to do so, he or she copies, reproduces or duplicates in any manner any computer data or computer program with an intent to commit or attempt to commit or further the commission of any felony".

Individuals have a defence to the charge if they "had reasonable grounds to believe that he or she had the right to copy, reproduce or duplicate in any manner the computer data or the computer program".