
Criminal charges against Programmer for actions of the user - jtd64
The US Government is attempting to make programmers criminally liable for the intentions of the users of the software. Programmers may end up bankrupting themselves in defense of felony jail time for the hidden intentions of their employers and clients if the prosecution wins this precedent-setting case.<p>Jitesh Thakkar legally immigrated to the United States from India in 1989 at the age of 13 to live the American Dream.  He learned English, graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a Computer Engineering degree, and founded his own small programming business. Now he faces unprecedented criminal charges because his company created software that a client later used to engage in unlawful CME futures trading without his knowledge.<p>Make no mistake about it—Jitesh is innocent of the charges.  He did not know what the trader would do with the software he created, which had legitimate uses.  But Jitesh now faces hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills because he must go to trial to prove his innocence, even though he has no prior criminal record or even any regulatory infractions.<p>Jitesh is a fighter and has utilized every monetary resource available to retain a prominent law firm to represent him. The case is scheduled to go to trial on April 1, 2019, in U.S. District Court in Chicago. The financial technology industry and small business owners everywhere will be watching intently because this case could set a precedent that would be used against other innocent programmers.<p>For those interested in helping out - I have created a Go Fund Me to help him pay for his defense.<p>https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.gofundme.com&#x2F;programmer-vs-us-govt-legal-defense-fund?sharetype=teams&amp;member=1647830&amp;rcid=r01-154975040165-67224aa5f0804395&amp;pc=ot_co_campmgmt_w
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greenyoda
The government's side of the story can be found here:

[https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/pr7689-18](https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/pr7689-18)

A link to the indictment can be found here:

[https://www.justice.gov/criminal-vns/case/jitesh-
thakkar](https://www.justice.gov/criminal-vns/case/jitesh-thakkar)

~~~
uberman
Is Thakkar's position that his company did not understand that this "back of
book" feature was against the law, or is it a legal feature (perhaps supported
by other platforms) that "Trader A" happened to use in an illegal manner?

Does it seem odd that the identity of "Trader A" is shielded given they are
the party that directly violated the law? Is "Trader A" taking a plea deal to
testify against Thakkar?

I'm sure the truth lies someplace in between, but the government allegations
(if taken at face value) seem (to me) to be both plausible and damning.
Personally, I hope "Trader A" pays a price and not just these devs.

Unfortunately, at the moment, the government's side sure does read like
"Trader A" said: "Hey I would like to break the law, can you help me?" and the
devs said "Sure, we can do that."

~~~
greenyoda
The trader's identity is revealed on page 2 of the actual indictment:
"Navinder Sarao was a futures trader who lived in the United Kingdom."

Apparently, he played a role in the 2010 "Flash Crash":

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Flash_Crash#Evidence_of_m...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Flash_Crash#Evidence_of_market_manipulation_and_arrest)

Looks like he pled guilty in a Chicago court in 2016 and is currently in
prison:

[http://fortune.com/2016/11/13/sarao-flash-crash-trader-
fraud](http://fortune.com/2016/11/13/sarao-flash-crash-trader-fraud)

> _Navinder Singh Sarao, a London-based stock trader, has pled guilty to one
> count of wire fraud and one count of “spoofing” in a Chicago court. He is
> expected to serve 78 to 97 months in jail and surrender nearly $13 million,
> according to the Telegraph._

> _Sarao’s crime involved manipulating derivatives prices by placing and
> quickly cancelling a massive number of orders on the Chicago Mercantile
> Exchange. Between 2009 and 2014, Sarao reportedly earned $40 million through
> manipulation._

~~~
anfilt
Sounds like the guy is an ass. I would not be surprised if he mislead the
developer and when “cooperating” with cftc made it sound like he knew that
software broke the law.

