Ex-Goldman worker theft charge

Sergey Aleynikov was a programmer at Goldman Sachs

A former worker for Goldman Sachs, Russian programmer Sergey Aleynikov, has been released on bail in the US, charged with "theft of trade secrets".

He has been accused of misusing computer codes owned by a former employer, unnamed in court papers but reportedly Goldman Sachs.

Mr Aleynikov was released on Monday, having met the $750,000 bail (£463,000) after his arrest by the FBI on Friday.

He left his job at Goldman, where he earned $400,000 a year, in June.

A transcript of Mr Aleynikov's attendance before a US magistrate on Saturday showed that he worked for Goldman Sachs.

Goldman Sachs said it did not comment on former employees.

The FBI arrested Mr Aleynikov, 39, as he disembarked from a flight in Newark on Friday, according to FBI documents.

Proprietary information

Sabrina Shroff, Mr Aleynikov's lawyer, said her client did not plan to sell the information or use it "contrary to my employment agreement with Goldman Sachs".

The case has raised issues about how safe such lucrative trading systems are.

As well as the $750,000 bond required as part of the bail, Mr Aleynikov was required to deliver $75,000 in cash and hand over travel documents.

Mr Aleynikov is accused of using proprietary information and uploading it to a computer based in Germany.

He argued that he had only meant to use open-source computer files, as opposed to propriety information, but later "realised that he had obtained more files than he intended", FBI court papers stated.

According to the court documents Mr Aleynikov "shall not access the computer data that is the subject of this criminal action".

As well as the accusation of stealing "trade secrets", the documents from the Southern District of New York court cite a "scheme to defraud" as one of the complaints made against Mr Aleynikov.