REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Aug. 3 (UPI) -- Korn/Ferry International, the world's biggest executive-search firm, is suing five former U.S. employees for allegedly stealing client records.
The company's suit, filed in California state court, says a former top official and four other ex-staffers stole confidential trade secrets -- mainly by illegally taking thousands of valuable candidate and client records, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
The suit alleges the five, including former top recruiter David Nosal, stole the data "to establish a competing executive-search business" and describes how Korn/Ferry uncovered the purported theft partly through work e-mails sent by some defendants while still employed there.
The U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco has launched a criminal investigation into the suit's allegations.