Keri Curtis Axel Speaks to Bloomberg about Quant Firm’s $1 Billion Code Trade Secrets Trial

Former federal prosecutor, Partner Keri Curtis Axel, speaking to Bloomberg News on June 9, 2025 about a trade secrets trial involving a Quant trading firm’s $1 billion code, said, “It’s hard to prove a highly technical case.”

Axel said the case against former Headlands Technology LLC trader Richard Ho, who is charged by federal prosecutors with the theft of trade secrets, seems strong. However, prosecutors face challenges because of the technical nature of the case. Headlands says it spent more than $1 billion developing secret blocks of source code that it claims Ho stole.