As Quant Prosecuted for Stealing Source Code of Headlands Press Opposes Sealing now NP1

As Quant Prosecuted for Stealing Source Code of Headlands Press Opposes Sealing now NP1 by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack SDNY COURTHOUSE, Aug 21 –  Back in January 2025 SDNY prosecutors announced an Indictment charging CHEUK FUNG RICHARD HO with theft and attempted theft of trade secrets.  The charges in the Indictment arose from HO’s alleged scheme to steal trade secrets from his former employer, a global quantitative trading firm. That firm was Headlands Technologies LLC. On September 12, 2025 Ho was before U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Jannette A. Vargas. Inner City Press was there, and live tweeted: Judge: Where are we on discovery?  AUSA: We've seized the AWS files of Mr. Ho's firm, 15 TB.  Judge: Can you do AI search?  AUSA: We don't currently have that capability. But we think a June 2026 trial is doable Ho's Skadden lawyer: My client says he wrote the source code. All we have from the Government is 61 snippets  Judge: A 3 week trial is set is set to start July 13, 2026. On November 7, 2025 the US Attorney's Office filed to quash subpoenas Ho filed, saying they do not meet the Nixon standard. Jump cut to August 2026, when the US Attorney's Office proposed to seal the courtroom not only for portions of the trial, but also for the Daubert expert hearings. Inner City Press immediately filed opposition, now on CourtListener here. Note that previous attempts in SDNY to seal the courtroom have been opposed, and transparency safeguards imposed were only belated and partially complied with, see here. And here. This is an ongoing project, including in other Districts. On August 18 Ho's lawyers also opposed sealing, and first noted: "A member of the Press has likewise formally opposed the Government's motion to close the courtroom under the First Amendment, see Docket No. 152" - Inner City Press' opposition to unsealing.  Full 16 page memo by Ho's lawyers on Patreon here. On August 21 a non-party was directed to file a declaration supporting sealing - under seal: "ORDER as to Cheuk Fung Richard Ho: Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1835(b), Nonparty-1 is authorized to file under seal a declaration in support of the Government's motion to close the courtroom for portions of the upcoming Daubert hearings and trial. ECF No. 151. The declaration should specify the precise contours of the proprietary information at issue, the specific competitive harms that would result from disclosure in open court of such information, and why lesser alternatives than court closure would not be sufficient to protect this information. The declaration should be filed no later than August 25, 2026. (Signed by Judge Jeannette A. Vargas on 8/21/2026) ."  Watch this site. The case is USA v. Ho, 1:25-cr-3 (Vargas) *** Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron. Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com Mail: Box 130222, Chinatown Station, NY NY 10013 Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.  Copyright 2006-2026 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com

Sale of Fentanyl Resulting in Death Triggered Detentions Livigni Heads to Trial Photo Deal

Sale of Fentanyl Resulting in Death Triggered Detentions Livigni Heads to Trial Photo Deal by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack SDNY COURTHOUSE, Aug 21 – Many people are killed by fentanyl these days. On the morning of July 14, 2023 Inner City Press covered the sentencing to three years of a man for causing a deadly overdose of another, Peter Krasniqi. Only his family, and Inner City Press, were in the courtroom gallery.   Later on July 14, a 20-year old woman charged with causing the death of the grandson of actor Robert De Niro was held, with significantly more interest. As in the first case, Inner City Press was there, thread Since then, with no docketing of this defendant Sophia Marks being released, there are 16 "Sealed Documents Placed in Vault." On October 30, Inner City Press learned the 16 defendants would be presented in SDNY Mag court(s) under indictment 25-cr-484 - which is now on Patreon here On November 4 one more defendant was presented and detained, on consent without prejudice. On November 5 the many defendants in US v. Brown were brought into Judge Cote's courtroom. Inner City Press was there. While the US Marshals say that no criminal trial with more than four defendants is possible during the shutdown, Judge Cote set a trial date for all but one on September 14, 2026. On April 30, 2026, a trial for co-defendant Johnson was set for December 7, 2026. On June 3 Judge Cote signed and correctly docketed an "ex parte" request for counsel to co-defendant Cuevas for a private investigator. 100 hours at $110 an hour had been requested; 40 hours were approved without prejudice to a request for more "for specific tasks." On June 18, white shoe CJA counsel for the lead named defendant filed a motion for a bill of particulars, say there is not "a single piece of evidence demonstrating that Mr. Brown was a member of the charged conspiracy." On June 25 Judge Cote docketed an order setting a change of plea for co-defendant Lugg on June 29. In fact this guilty plea took place on July 2. Inner City Press was there, as the defendant in Hudson County Correctional Facility green, allocuted. His sentencing was set for October 8 at 2:30 pm. Another co-defendant Tannenbaum also pled guilty on July 2, with sentencing set for October 2 at 11 am. On July 8 a change of plea (to guilty) was set for co-defendant Felci on July 14. On July 22 lead named defendant Brown pleaded guilty, with sentencing set for November 13. On July 23 co-defendant Pina pled guilty, sentencing set for November 13 as well. On July 28 co-defendant Cuevas pled guilty, with sentencing set for November 19. On July 30,counsel to defendant Johnson wrote in that "we are currently engaged in plea negotiations with the government... we respectfully request a one-week extension." On August 4 Judge Cote docketed that co-defendant Rodriguez was schedule to plead guilty. Docketed on August 7, Rodriguez pled guilty to Count 1, with sentencing set for November 20. On August 21 co-defendant Livigni, heading to trial, opposed the US Attorney's Office's motion in limit, noting that there may be a deal to redact or obscure Victim-1's upper left arm as prejudicial. But will they try to seal the courtroom? The first case is US v. Marks, 23-mj-5518 (Wang) The next case is USA v. Brown, et al., 25-cr-484 (Cote)  More analysis on Substack here  *** Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron. Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com Mail: Box130222 NY NY 10013 Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.  Copyright 2006-2026 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com