Current and former employees at prominent quant trading operations spoke to Insider anonymously for this story, citing fear of legal reprisals.
"At the NSA, the penalty for leaking is twenty-five years in prison," Simons liked to tell employees, according to Gregory Zuckerman's book "The Man Who Solved the Market."
In the early 2000s, quant noncompetes were narrower and shorter — six to nine months was industry standard, quant recruiters who had to navigate these obstacles told Insider.
But it has aggressively pursued employees it believes have crossed the firm, according to court filings and media reports.
Absent such changes, quant noncompetes will likely continue to proliferate with little resistance from employees.
Persons:
Ken Griffin, they'd, It's, Matt Moye, they've, David Marshall, Jim Simons, George Soros, John Paulson, Philip Falcone, Jonathan Ernst, RenTech, Simons, Gregory Zuckerman's, Moye, quant, Pavel Volfbeyn, Alexander Belopolsky, spooked, Eric Wepsic, Shaw, —, Izzy Englander, Rick Wastrom, Smith Hanley, Jane Street burgeoned, Peter Friedman, Brennan Hughes, Griffin —, They've, Friedman, Chase Lochmiller, Ray Dalio, Jane Street, Hughes, Samuel Estreicher, Estreicher, I'm, David, Wastrom, Marshall, noncompetes
Organizations:
Citadel Securities, Renaissance Technologies, Citadel, St John's Law School, Center for Labor, Employment, REUTERS, NSA, Fund, RenTech, Millennium Management, Millennium, D.E, Trading, Integra Advisors, Wall, Google, Sigma, Polychain, Getty, Bridgewater Associates, National Labor Relations Board, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, Group, New York University, school's Center for Labor, John's Law, —, New
Locations:
America, Bridgewater, New York, Hudson, Riker's Island, Houston, Chicago, Connecticut, — California, St, New York , Illinois