A Manhattan federal judge has asked proprietary trading giant Jane Street to reveal the details of a super-secretive and profitable trade, which it claims was stolen by Izzy Englander’s Millennium hedge fund.
Manhattan federal judge Paul Engelmayer has ruled that Jane Street must reveal details of the trade, which the firm has called “immensely profitable” and has earned the company $1 billion.
The judge also warned that Jane would have to complete the process before May 23 without any excuses.
Judge Demands Jane Street Reveal Secrets of Billion-Dollar Trade in Legal Clash with Millennium
The judge said at a Thursday hearing,
“This case is essentially about trade secrets. Jane Street is to meet that deadline, no excuses.”
Jane Street is being represented by Deborah Brown, a partner at Quinn Emanuel, who said that she has sent a draft protective order to Millennium’s lawyers that seeks to stop details of the trade from leaking out to the public.
At a hearing in April, the lawyers from both parties had told the court that the trade was limited to short-term options trading in India and that it earned Jane Street $1 billion last year.
The lawyers representing Jane Street said that the company was expected to earn more this year, but Millennium snatched away two of its top traders: Doug Schadewald and his direct report, Daniel Spottiswood.
For years, Jane Street was known as a highly secretive trading entity that employed technology and algorithmic models to mint billions of dollars in revenue quietly. It once also had Sam Bankman-Fried, also known as the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, on its payroll. Sam was later sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud.
Jane Street had sued the men for stealing the firm’s intellectual property and handing it to Millennium.
The traders have also produced court documents that said they were disappointed with their 2023 pay.
Lawyers representing Millennium have contended that the trade is not a secret. To support this statement, they also pointed to media reports detailing the opportunities and inefficiencies of the India options trade.
Millennium also contended that it had received regulatory approval in 2016 to hold Indian securities and other financial assets as a foreign entity. It added that it has a thorough review and approval process that prohibits employees from bringing third-party confidential material into the company.
Jane Street had in its initial plea requested the court to stop Millennium and its two former traders from using the trade until the IP theft claims could be sorted.
However, their pleas were rejected by the judge, and Jane Street is now demanding damages to be awarded by a jury trial.
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