Charges against the ex-Goldman programmer who inspired a Michael Lewis book have been dropped

Things are looking up for Sergey Aleynikov, the ex-Goldman Sachs programmer accused of stealing code from the bank before leaving for a high-frequency trading firm.

Charges in that case have been tossed out, according to Bloomberg.

Aleynikov's case was part of the inspiration for Michael Lewis' book, "Flash Boys," about high-frequency trading.

After leaving Goldman Sachs in 2009, he faced a federal trial, was convicted of violating a corporate espionage law, spent time in jail, and then was set free after an appeals court threw out the federal conviction.

Then he was brought back to court on state charges. That's the case at hand now.

Earlier this year, a jury in New York convicted Aleynikov on one count of code theft, acquitted him on another, and deadlocked on a third. He almost fased a mistrial because jurors could not get along.

Now, according to Bloomberg, a judge has "handed a defeat to New York prosecutors who brought charges after their federal counterparts foundered."