A Russian man was arrested in New York this week on suspicion of stealing code that governs automatic trading at an as-yet unnamed financial institution.

Sergey Aleynikov was charged on multiple counts of trade secret theft. According to his deposition, which you can read here, Aleynikov allegedly uploaded details of a “computer platform that allows the financial institution to engage in sophisticated, high-speed and high-volume trades on various stock and commodities markets”.

The FBI was informed of the theft after the financial institution analysed large data transfers from one of its desktop computers to outside its network.

Observers have speculated that the institution in question is Goldman Sachs, as Aleynikov worked for the investment bank in the past.

Also, as finance blog ZeroHedge noted, Goldman Sachs recently disappeared from the top 15 list of the New York Stock Exchange’s most active ‘program trading’ organisations recently, having previously held the top spot.

Goldman Sachs has not commented on the case, while Aleynikov’s wife insists he is innocent, according to the Reuters news agency, which broke the story.