Federal Government Asks for Closed Courtroom to Protect Goldman Sachs Secrets

AllGov News ^ | 10/29/2010 | By Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

[ex-Texan]

The U.S. Department of Justice has requested that a federal judge seal the courtroom of a trial involving computer code theft in order to protect trade secrets of Goldman Sachs.

Sergey Aleynikov was arrested by the FBI on charges of stealing computer code that supports Goldman’s high frequency trading system, which allows the bank to buy and sell stocks in a fraction of a second.

Goldman Sachs and others use “flash trading” to send out automated sell offers at higher and higher prices until one comes back with no buyer. The program then drops back to the highest acceptable price and sells at what the buyer set as his maximum limit. This allows Goldman to always obtain the best possible selling price, while the buyer loses the normal give and take of bargaining. In the case of large orders, such as those from pension funds or mutual funds, this can cost the buyers a small fortune.

Federal prosecutors have argued that the general public should not be allowed to observe the trial when details of Goldman’s trade secrets are discussed. They also asked that any documents related to Goldman’s trading strategies be sealed.

While it is common to protect proprietary corporate information during trials, the case of Aleynikov is unusual because it involves “secrets about a potentially lucrative trading system, rather than, say, ingredients in a soda formula,” wrote the Wall Street Journal.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

U.S. Seeks to Shield Goldman Secrets (by Scott Patterson, Wall Street Journal)

How Goldman Sachs Made $100 Million a Day in a Flash (by David Wallechinsky, AllGov)

SEC Moves to Ban High-Speed “Flash” Trading (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

“High-Frequency” Traders Make Billions Beating Normal Stock Investors to the Punch (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

[ex-Texan]

Looks like the Department of Justice wants to censor what really happening in king zero's D.C. court system. God forbid that the fancy mathematical formulas used by Wall Street to rape the public of $$$ Billions would be discussed in open court. Pardon me while I snicker quietly in the corner.

There ought to be thousands of people demonstrating outside the court building. But the sheeple are asleep. Or else watching 'Dancing with the Stars.'

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid (/ smirk) . . . . LOL, LOL !

[MichiganConservative]

Not a surprise. The banksters own the federal government.

[ex-Texan]

*Ping*!

[XenaLee]

Uh....whatever happened to the “public’s right to know”???

Oh wait. That’s only when it does NOT concern revealing anything criminal or embarassing about a leftist/DemocRat.

Nevermind.

[Revel]

They want it closed alright. This trader will reveal all of the illegal elements of there HFT scheme. Since it is known by the government already, and encouraged as a way for GS to make money then the government wants it hidden too.

[DuncanWaring]

Since when is criminal activity protected as a “trade secret”?

[TruthConquers]

This should help the public’s confidence to get back into stocks ... NOT!!!!

The financial rape of America, continues.

[Luke21]

I love how the press always call it “the government” when their people are in power and they know the event is bad. In the old days, anything awful was attributed to Bush, Ashcroft, Cheney, etc, or the media used headlines such as “Bush administration wants more dead children.” There were no indirect references to the government.

[Shady]

Accessories to the crime of all time.

[jakerobins]

Yep..Barry doesn’t want the Public to know how much he helped his Dem Wall Street Buddies.....

[InternetTuffGuy]

Or else watching 'Dancing with the Stars.'

Or in tonight's case, the world series - I know, I know...as a red blooded American I'm supposed to give a rat's ass about our national "pastime", but really, it's just bread and circuses for the rubes.

Pay no attention to Dimon, Blankfein, Obama and Geithner behind the curtain as they rape your grandchildren.

[ex-Texan]

[penelopesire]

Obama protecting his crony capitalists and big donors ping!

There is more to this story that will come out in congressional hearings next year.

[Carry_Okie]

Gives a whole new meaning to the term: Trade Secret. Somebody at GS must be getting a good belly chuckle out of this.

I live for the day I see these creeps picking weeds along the roadside, in chains.

[eyeamok]

How dare they not let Goldman Sachs admit to Fraud in open court. Could you imagine the destruction to our economy if we actually disallowed Wall St to commit FRAUD on a MASSIVE SCALE DAILY?

[Quix]

Thanks thanks.

[Quix]

Incredible.

[television is just wrong]

doesn’t make it right. what happened to an honorable administration?

[keats5]

Too bad our military secrets don’t get the same treatment.

[MichiganConservative]

doesn’t make it right. what happened to an honorable administration?

Not just this administration. The banksters have been in control for decades. They know where all the bodies are buried.