Quant Trader Charged With Source-Code Theft Seeks Case Dismissal

A former Headlands Technologies LLC trader charged with stealing the quantitative firm’s source code said his criminal case should be thrown out because prosecutors haven’t adequately specified what he allegedly took.

Richard Ho said in Thursday filings in New York that the January indictment was unconstitutionally vague, referring only to “numerous components” of source code as well as “alpha” and “atom” building blocks. Ho’s lawyers said he can’t defend himself without knowing precisely what trade secrets he’s accused of stealing.

The defense team asked Manhattan US District Judge Jeannette Vargas to dismiss the charges against Ho, who was accused to ...