Ex-Citi law firm group bankers deny taking trade secrets to BMO
By Sara Merken
Nov 25 (Reuters) -Two former Citigroup private bankers pushed back on Monday against a lawsuit that accused them of taking confidential client information to their new employer, competitor Bank of Montreal.
San Francisco-based bankers John Mitchell and Benjamin Carr, who joined BMO's law firm wealth management group last month, denied Citi's allegations in a court filing, arguing that the lawsuit relied on "baseless speculation."
Citibank and Citigroup Global Markets sued Carr and Mitchell in California federal court last week, alleging they likely took or retained confidential and proprietary information when they left Citi and are using it at BMO, including clients' cash balances and the maturity dates of savings accounts.
Citi asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent the former employees from using its confidential information until a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel rules in a related proceeding.
The bank initiated a FINRA arbitration against Mitchell and others on Oct. 28 over the alleged solicitation of Citi employees to join BMO, the complaint said.
Mitchell and Carr on Monday asked a U.S. judge to deny Citi's request for a restraining order, accusing the bank of attempting "to punish their former employees for exercising their right to seek other employment."
Citi's lawsuit accused Carr of engaging in "highly unusual activity" by searching for information related to his clients on Citi's computer system two days before the bankers gave notice of their resignation in July. Mitchell then allegedly used the information to try to persuade a Citi client to change banks, the lawsuit said.
Carr and Mitchell countered in Monday's filing that the contact information for Mitchell's former clients, who are partners at large law firms, is publicly available, and the client information Citi cited in its lawsuit is not a trade secret.
Citi declined to comment. A lawyer for Mitchell and Carr did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"We deny these allegations and look forward to presenting the facts of this matter," BMO, which is not a defendant in the lawsuit, said in a statement.
Mitchell and Carr were among 18 banking, investment and planning professionals who left Citi Global Wealth at Work's Law Firm Group for BMO U.S. Wealth Management in a move announced on Oct. 3.
Mitchell was a managing director and Carr was a senior vice president in Citi's law firm unit, which provides wealth management services to lawyers and their firms.
Citi on Monday named new leadership within its law firm group, according to an internal memo viewed by Reuters.
The case is Citibank, N.A. v. Mitchell, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 3:24-cv-08224
For Citi: Stacy Fode and Natalie Bryans of Nukk-Freeman & Cerra; and Leonard Weintraub of Paduano & Weintraub
For Mitchell and Carr: Paul Riehle and Tracey Salmon-Smith of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath
Reporting by Sara Merken
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