Mathew Goldstein of Reuters broke a major story on Sunday implying just that. While most in the US were celebrating the 4th of July, a Russian immigrant living in New Jersey was being held on federal charges of stealing top-secret computer trading codes from a major New York-based financial institution—that sources say is none other than Goldman Sachs.

This news is huge.  Why?  Because Goldman consistently ranks number one in the NYSE’s program trading report.  And this highly profitable desk is now in jeopardy.

The secret codes the accused man, Sergey Aleynikov, allegedly stole affect a section of the trading group that deals with low latency (microseconds) event-driven market data processing, strategy, and order submissions. Also known as one of Goldman’s biggest profit centers.

Federal authorities say the platform quickly processes rapid developments in the markets and uses top secret mathematical formulas to allow the firm to make highly-profitable automated trades.

The case began unfolding on

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