Citadel Sent Scuba Divers Into Chicago River To Recover Stolen Code
John Coogan · David Senra (Founders Podcast) on Studying Billionaires and Avoiding Their Mistakes · Apr 6, 2025 · at 12:01
TBPN co-host John Coogan explains the extreme lengths Ken Griffin and Citadel went to in order to prosecute an employee who stole proprietary quantitative code.
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“On the on the quant team stole code for, they call them alphas, basically code that no matter who runs it, they're gonna generate return. Stole a bunch of stuff on like a hard drive. Citadel finds out, realizes that they're stealing the IP, the code. The guy freaks out. He dumps the hard drive into the river in Chicago. And Ken Griffin and the Citadel team Get scuba divers to go into the river and bind the hard drive just to send it to the FBI to get this guy busted.”
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