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