Yeah that one. Was internal code (well derived from code off stackflow) but completely harmless. The response - GS getting the FBI to go after him was wildly disproportionate.
Michael Lewis wrote an article about Sergey Aleynikov for Vanity Fair which led him later to write, "Flash Boys" -- it's online and worth your time [0]. Some interesting bits include:
* Advice and information that could keep a programmer out of jail.
* There's the description of Aleynikov's jailhouse enlightenment -- there is no other word for it -- e.g. what his lawyer says:
“Every time I would come to visit him in jail, I would leave energized by him,” she says. “He radiated so much energy and positive emotions that it was like therapy for me, to visit him. His eyes opened to how the world really is. And he started talking to people. For the first time! He would say: People in jail have the best stories. He could have considered himself a tragedy. And he didn’t.”
* There's the discussion of how no one involved (except Aleynikov) actually understood anything about the case and how Aleynikov's attempts to help clarify things were used against him.
* And, then, there's the piece de resistance, where Michael Lewis convenes a jury of cynical programmers -- i.e. some people who actually have a clue -- to meet Aleynikov and judge his actions (spoiler: their cynicism about the case is replaced with incredulity when they talk to him and realize he didn't care about Goldman Sach's "secret sauce" trading algorithms, etc.).
(Also, Lewis discusses his article in a Q&A in Vanity Fair [1] where he gets to talk about his own reaction to it all).
