Sentencing for man who stole corporate secrets from richest Chicagoan

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A 27-year-old hedge fund trader was sentenced to three years for stealing trade secrets from Chicago hedge fund giant Citadel LLC, owned by billionaire Ken Griffin.

"It's the most regrettable action of my life," Yihao "Ben" Pu told U.S. District Judge Charles Norgle.

Prosecutors sought a sentence of 87 to 108 months for hacking corporate secrets in a way that was "calculated and brazenly executed". Judge Norgle commented that Pu's sentence must serve as a deterrent, but he gave the young defendant a downward departure from the sentenced requested by the government. Mr. Pu had asked for probation.

There was also a large discrepancy in restitution between prosecutors and the defense. The government wanted Pu to pay Citadel and Tradeworks, a second company from which Pu stole secrets totaling $12.1 million. The defense insisted the companies lost nothing. Judge Norgle ordered Pu to pay Citadel $760,000 to cover their cost of investigating the case.

The only evidence of that Pu used the stolen Citadel high-frequency trading algorithms were his own trades. He lost $40,000.

In 2011, when Citadel first confronted Pu, his response was "What you are doing is uncool." To quickly cover his tracks, Pu asked a friend to help him get rid of hard drives, most of which were found in the Wilmette Sanitary Canal. His friend saved one hard drive and turned it over to an attorney.

Pu's friend, Sonny Uppal, 26, who admitted helping cover up the theft, will be sentenced Thursday afternoon.