McKinsey accuses ex-partner of IP theft
US management consulting firm McKinsey has sued an ex-partner over claims that he took trade secrets to rival Accenture.
In the suit, filed at the US District Court for the District of New Jersey, McKinsey said that in his final weeks of employment at the firm, Parker Shi transferred multiple confidential files containing client and proprietary information to personal email and cloud storage accounts.
Shi then joined direct competitor Accenture, taking up the position of senior management director for technology strategy.
This was despite assurances to McKinsey that he would not be joining a rival, the plaintiff claimed.
Shi had worked at McKinsey since 2008, at first for an affiliate in Shanghai. He transferred to the New Jersey office in 2015, serving as a director and senior partner until his departure last July.
In its complaint, McKinsey detailed evidence of alleged misappropriation of confidential company files by Shi towards the end of his employment at the firm.
According to McKinsey, Shi transferred hundreds of files, containing client information, to his own private email and Evernote accounts.
None of these files pertained to the work he was carrying out for McKinsey or his clients at the time, the suit claimed.
The files also contained confidential information about McKinsey company strategy, the firm said.
The company says it carried out a “forensic analysis” that revealed Shi was downloading the files over the weekend during his final weeks at the firm.
“In McKinsey’s firm culture, however, a senior partner would certainly not be undertaking such downloads on Saturdays and Sundays in the final weeks of employment,” the suit claimed.
“It would be typical for someone in Shi’s position to have little or no actual work to do in the final weeks or even months of nominal employment with McKinsey,” it added.
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