MOSCOW, October 25 (RAPSI) – Goldman Sachs filed notice Thursday of its intent to appeal a US federal court decision ordering the banking giant to pay certain of Sergey Aleynikov’s legal fees, according to court documents.

Granting in part Aleynikov’s motion for summary judgment earlier this month, the US District Court for the District of New Jersey ordered Goldman Sachs, “to pay Alenikov’s legal fees and expenses incurred to date in connection with the State Action, and to pay such fees and expenses periodically as they are incurred going forward,” noting that the bills would be “scrutinized for reasonableness.”

Aleynikov had sought indemnification for the fees and expenses associated with his federal case, as well as advancement of fees and expenses associated with the ongoing state case.

The court noted that indemnification serves to reimburse a claimant whose already completed case fell in his or her favor, whereas advancement serves to fund an ongoing case and the claimant is expected to reimburse the fees should the case turn in the opposing party’s favor.

Summary judgment was granted in connection with the advancement of fees only, but denied in connection with the indemnification question. In terms of indemnification, the judge noted that Goldman Sachs should be afforded the opportunity to litigate its counterclaims.

The brief notice of appeal filed Thursday asserts that: “The Order and Opinion, which call for Goldman Sachs to advance certain legal fees to Aleynikov, are appealable as of right…”

The appeal will be filed with the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Goldman Sachs is among the most prominent investment banking firms on Wall Street. While working for the firm, Aleynikov was responsible for the development and maintenance of a complex computer program that facilitated its high-traffic global trading system. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. described the code as, “so highly confidential that it is known in the industry as the firm’s ‘secret sauce… Employees who exploit their access to sensitive information should expect to face criminal prosecution in New York State in appropriate cases.”

Prosecutors claim that in 2009, Aleynikov resigned from Goldman Sachs in order to accept a job at Chicago-based trading firm Teza, where he would be responsible for the creation of another high-traffic trading computer program built to compete with that of Goldman Sachs. Aleynikov allegedly copied hundreds of thousands of lines of source code from the Goldman Sachs program on his last day with the firm.

In August 2012, New York City prosecutors announced that Aleynikov had been charged with the unlawful use of secret scientific material and the duplication of computer related material, both Class E felonies, in connection with his alleged theft of the investment firm’s sensitive source code.
Aleynikhov was convicted and sentenced in a federal case stemming from the same facts in 2011, but his conviction was overturned on appeal.