Goldman Sachs High Frequency Trading Trial Gets Underway - Defense Counsel Already Irritates Federal Judge

Peter Lattman in the New York Times DealBook has provided us an inside seat in the Economic Espionage Act prosecution of Sergey Aleynikov. Nothing really too interesting so far, other than the fact that Mr. Aleynikov's defense counsel apparently twice suggested that this case should be a civil matter and that Goldman could have sued Mr. Aleynikov instead of referring the case to criminal authorities. That did not make Judge Cote happy and at the conclusion of the lawyers’ opening statements, she reminded the jurors that “this is a criminal trial” and the defendant has been accused of violating federal laws.

We get the sense that Mr. Aleynikov's counsel feels he might pull a juror or two over to his side if he can convince them that Goldman Sachs is prosecuting this case and not the United States Attorney. Sounds like Judge Cote won't have too much of that in her courtroom. More as it develops.