United States Court of Appeals

117 Pages·2012·2.52 MB·English

Case: 11-1074 Document: 82 Page: 1 03/30/2012 567648 117
11-1074
To Be Argued By:
DANIEL W. LEVY
United States Court of Appeals
FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT
Docket No. 11-1074
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Appellee,
—v.—
SAMARTH AGRAWAL,
Defendant-Appellant.
ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
BRIEF FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
PREET BHARARA,
United States Attorney for the
Southern District of New York,
Attorney for the United States
of America.
THOMAS G.A. BROWN,
DANIEL W. LEVY,
JUSTIN S. WEDDLE,
Assistant United States Attorneys,
Of Counsel.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
Preliminary Statement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Statement of Facts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
A. The Indictment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
B. The Trial.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1. The Government’s Case. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
a. High Frequency Trading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
b. SocGen’s HFT Systems.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
c. Agrawal’s Employment at SocGen.. . . . . 9
d. Agrawal Gets a Job at Tower and
Prints SocGen’s HFT Code.. . . . . . . . . . 11
e. Agrawal Deletes Incriminating
Documents from His Computer and
Resigns from SocGen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
f. Agrawal Discloses Details of
SocGen’s HFT Systems to Tower.. . . . . 18
g. Agrawal’s Arrest, Post-Arrest
Statements, and the Search of
Agrawal’s Apartment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2. The Defense Case.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
C. The Charge Conference and the Jury
Instructions.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
D. The Sentencing Proceeding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
ARGUMENT.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
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PAGE
POINT I — The District Court Properly Instructed the
Jury.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
A. Applicable Law. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
B. Discussion.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
1. Agrawal’s Claims Are Subject to Plain
Error Review.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2. Agrawal Does Not Satisfy the Plain Error
Standard on Appeal.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
a. Count One — Instruction as to Intent. . . 36
b. Count One — Instruction as to
Knowledge.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
c. Count Two — Instruction as to
“Goods, Wares, or Merchandise”. . . . . . 42
d. Count Two — Instruction as to
Interstate or Foreign Commerce. . . . . . . 42
e. Count Two — Instruction as to
Determining the Value of the Code.. . . . 44
POINT II — There Was No Constructive Amendment
of the Indictment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
A. Applicable Law. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
B. Discussion.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
POINT III — Agrawal’s Conduct Violates the EEA
and the NSPA.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
A. Applicable Law. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
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B. Discussion.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
1. Count One — Theft of Trade Secrets.. . . . . 57
2. Count Two — Interstate Transportation
of Stolen Property.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3. Agrawal’s Sufficiency Claim Fails.. . . . . . . 66
CONCLUSION.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
Cases:
Alstate Const. Co. v. Durkin,
345 U.S. 13 (1953).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Boyle v. United States,
556 U.S. 938, 129 S. Ct. 2237 (2009). . . . . . . . . . 56
California v. Brown,
479 U.S. 538 (1987).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Caminetti v. United States,
242 U.S. 470 (1917).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Dowling v. United States,
473 U.S. 207 (1985).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Henderson v. Kibbe,
431 U.S. 145 (1977).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Holland v. United States,
348 U.S. 121 (1954).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
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Jackson v. Virginia,
443 U.S. 307 (1979).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Neder v. United States,
527 U.S. 1 (1999).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Puckett v. United States,
556 U.S. 129 (2009).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
United States v. Alavi,
No. 07 Cr. 429 (PHX),
2008 WL 1971391 (D. Ariz. May 2, 2008). . . . . . 63
United States v. Albertini,
472 U.S. 675 (1985).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
United States v. Aleynikov,
737 F. Supp. 2d 173 (S.D.N.Y. 2010). . . . . . . . . . 55
United States v. Aleynikov,
785 F. Supp. 2d 46 (S.D.N.Y. 2011). . . . . . . . . . . 55
United States v. Aleynikov,
No. 11-1126-cr.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
United States v. Alkins,
925 F.2d 541 (2d Cir. 1991).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
United States v. Bottone,
365 F.2d 389 (2d Cir. 1966).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63-64
United States v. Brown,
925 F.2d 1301 (10th Cir. 1991). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
United States v. Brunshtein,
344 F.3d 91 (2d Cir. 2003).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
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United States v. Caparros,
No. 85 Cr. 990 (JFK),
1987 WL 8653 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 25, 1987).. . . . . . 63
United States v. Carr,
880 F.2d 1550 (2d Cir. 1989).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
United States v. Chavez,
549 F.3d 119 (2d Cir. 2008).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
United States v. D'Amelio,
636 F. Supp. 2d 234 (S.D.N.Y. 2009). . . . . . . . . . 26
United States v. Danielson,
199 F.3d 666 (2d Cir. 1999). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
United States v. Diaz,
176 F.3d 52 (2d Cir. 1999).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
United States v. Dupre,
462 F.3d 131 (2d Cir. 2006).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48, 53
United States v. Farraj,
142 F. Supp. 2d 484 (S.D.N.Y. 2001). . . . . . . . . . 63
United States v. Frank,
156 F.3d 332 (2d Cir. 1997).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
United States v. Gaskin,
364 F.3d 438 (2d Cir. 2004).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
United States v. Genovese,
409 F. Supp. 2d 253 (S.D.N.Y. 2005). . . . . . . . . . 37
United States v. Greenwald,
479 F.2d 320 (6th Cir. 1973). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
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United States v. Hassan,
578 F.3d 108 (2d Cir. 2008).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
United States v. Heimann,
705 F.2d 662 (2d Cir. 1983).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
United States v. Hsu,
155 F.3d 189 (3rd Cir. 1998).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
United States v. Ionia Mgmt.,
555 F.3d 303 (2d Cir. 2009).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
United States v. Jones,
30 F.3d 276 (2d Cir. 1994).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
United States v. Klein,
Nos. 05-3443-cr(L), 05-4199-cr(CON),
2007 WL 419659 (2d Cir. Feb. 5, 2007). . . . . . . . 53
United States v. Kwan,
No. 02Cr. 241 (DAB),
2003 WL 22973515 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 17, 2003).. . 64
United States v. Marcus,
130 S. Ct. 2159 (2010).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
United States v. Martin,
228 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2000). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
United States v. Masotto,
73 F.3d 1233 (2d Cir. 1996).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
United States v. McCourty,
562 F.3d 458 (2d Cir. 2009).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
United States v. McDermott,
918 F.2d 319 (2d Cir. 1990).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
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United States v. Middlemiss,
217 F.3d 112 (2d Cir. 2000).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
United States v. Miller,
471 U.S. 130 (1985).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
United States v. Morgenstern,
933 F.2d 1108 (2d Cir. 1991).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
United States v. Mucciante,
21 F.3d 1228 (2d Cir. 1994).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
United States v. Mulder,
273 F.3d 91 (2d Cir. 2001).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
United States v. Patino,
962 F.2d 263 (2d Cir. 1992).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46-48
United States v. Piervinanzi,
23 F.3d 670 (2d Cir. 1994).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
United States v. Pirro,
212 F.3d 86 (2d Cir. 2000).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56-57
United States v. Pujana-Mena,
949 F.2d 24 (2d Cir. 1991).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
United States v. Rigas,
490 F.3d 208 (2d Cir. 2007).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46-47
United States v. Riggs,
739 F. Supp. 414 (E.D. Ill. 1990), aff'd on
other grounds, 967 F.2d 561 (11th Cir. 1992).. . . 64
United States v. Ron Pair Enterprises, Inc.,
489 U.S. 235 (1989).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
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United States v. Salmonese,
352 F.3d 608 (2d Cir. 2003).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46-47
United States v. Seagraves,
265 F.2d 876 (3d Cir. 1959).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
United States v. Shaoul,
41 F.3d 811 (2d Cir. 1994).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
United States v. Tropeano,
252 F.3d 653 (2d Cir. 2001).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
United States v. Wallace,
59 F.3d 333 (2d Cir. 1995).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46-47
United States v. Whitten,
610 F.3d 168 (2d Cir. 2010).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
United States v. Yang,
281 F.3d 534 (6th Cir. 2002). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
United States v. Zingaro,
858 F.2d 94 (2d Cir. 1988).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
In re Vericker,
446 F.2d 244 (2d Cir. 1971).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Victor v. Nebraska,
511 U.S. 1 (1994).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Statutes, Rules & Other Authorities
Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, Pub. L. 100-690,
§ 7057(a), 102 Stat. 4181, 4402 (1988).. . . . . . . . 65
Economic Espionage Act of 1996,
18 U.S.C. § 1832. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 22, 51, 57
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Fair Labor Standards Act,
29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Fed. R. Crim. P. 30(d). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
H.R. Rep. No. 104-788 (1996),
as reprinted in 1996 U.S.C.C.A.N. 4021 . . . . . 59-62
S. Rep. 104-359 (1996),
1996 WL 497065.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Statement by President William J. Clinton
upon Signing H.R. 3723, 32 Weekly Comp.
Pres. Doc. 2040 (Oct. 14, 1996), as reprinted
in 1996 U.S.C.C.A.N. 4034.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Opening Statement of Sen. Arlen Specter in
S. Hrg. 104-499 (1996), 1996 WL 90824. . . . . . . 59