Appeals Court Orders NJ Programmer’s Acquittal

A smiling former Goldman Sachs programmer has been freed after a surprise ruling from a federal appeals court that reversed his conviction on charges he stole computer code.

Sergey Aleynikov says he "jumped all over the place" when he saw an email from his lawyer at 6 a.m.
Friday. The email informed him that the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan had reversed his conviction.

The reversal came less than a day after his lawyer told a three-judge panel that Aleynikov was wrongly convicted. The 42-year-old North Caldwell, N.J., man had already served a year of a more-than-eight-year prison sentence.

He said outside court that he looked forward to seeing his family, including his 8-, 6- and 3-year-old daughters.

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