On Thursday, Chen turned down the former Korn/Ferry vice president's effort to escape his high-profile convictions under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and Economic Espionage Act.

Chen issued a 39-page opinion rejecting Nosal's contention that the government is criminalizing garden variety password sharing and that Korn/Ferry's semi-confidential database of executive candidates, known as Searcher, isn't a trade secret.