Matt Spillane, mspillane@lohud.com

Valley Cottage resident Dmitry Sazonov was sentenced in January 2018 to three years of probation for fraud connected to his former employer.

Sazonov, who had worked as a software engineer for Susquehanna International Group in Manhattan, was arrested in April 2017 and accused of trying to steal his employer's computer code after he learned that he might be laid off.

Sazonov pleaded guilty in October 2017 to a misdemeanor count of fraud activity connected with computers. As part of his sentencing in Manhattan federal court, he was also ordered to pay SIG $132,817 in restitution.

Sazonov was worried that he was about to be fired in February 2017, and used his work computer to try to steal computer code from SIG, a financial services company, according to a federal criminal complaint.

He eventually was laid off, and he was arrested by the FBI and charged with attempted theft of trade secrets, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Sazonov, a native of Russia who worked for SIG from July 2004 through February 2017, said in court papers before his sentencing that he had been "in the midst of a life-shattering divorce," and faced uncertainty over how to provide for his three children.

As he learned that he would be fired, Sazonov said in court papers, he panicked and moved company files into his personal folder on his computer. He tried to go back and delete those files from his personal folder, but he abandoned that plan because his co-workers were around after he was fired, according to court records.

"His actions were anxious and distracted, and indicative of severe emotional distress, rather than any cold or calculating effort to break the law," his lawyers said in court papers.

Twitter: @MattSpillane