CNBC tipster accused of stealing market research data
Regular CNBC contributor Nadine Terman and the hedge fund she founded have been sued by Hedgeye Risk Management for allegedly stealing its trade secrets.
Hedgeye filed the complaint against Terman and Solstein Capital in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday, February 9.
The complaint says that for more than five years, Terman and Solstein Capital subscribed to Hedgeye and paid “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to access its proprietary research, and relied on that information to steal trade secrets, “sabotage its business”, and secure a partnership with a former Hedgeye director Darius Dale to “destroy” its IP and conceal its actions.
Terman allegedly “demonstrated a pattern” of exploiting her relationship with Hedgeye and its IP by using Hedgeye’s “unique jargon” on CNBC appearances and parroted its market predictions without credit.
Conspiring to steal
Hedgeye claims that Terman conspired with Dale to steal Hedgeye’s confidential information and trade secrets in order to end its dependency on Hedgeye and launch 42 Macro—a company that Hedgeye claims exists to sell research derived from the stolen secrets.
In his last week at Hedgeye, Dale allegedly “copied” trade secrets to his personal Dropbox account in a folder called 42 Macro that both Terman and Solstein Capital had access to.
Hedgeye also accuses Terman of offering resources to help Dale conceal his theft, sending him a message offering to "help you [Dale] ensure Hedgeye cannot access anything from the [company] laptop you are returning".
Dale also allegedly attempted to destroy evidence of his “misconduct”, leaving only trace evidence in his personal dropbox.
Michael Blum, president of Hedgeye said: "It's shocking how depraved, egregious and immoral the actions of these particular individuals were.
“Stealing is not acceptable when conducting business in our country, especially in our regulated industry. And destroying evidence to conceal wrongdoing should not be tolerated in the US legal system."
Hedgeye asks the court to issue an order prohibiting Terman, Solstein Capital from purchasing more Hedgeye material or assisting Dale, 42 Macro, and its alleged financier Steven Lamar from misappropriating trade secrets.
It seeks punitive damages from the defendants “willful, wanton, reckless and malicious conduct” and a demand for a jury trial.
Solstein Capital has been approached for comment.
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