New York Knicks sue ex-employees and the Raptors for “stealing thousands of proprietary files”
- The lawsuit names the Raptors and a former Knicks employee as defendants
- Toronto’s new coach Darko Rajaković was reportedly seeking help settling into the NBA
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The New York Knicks have reportedly sued a former employee for allegedly stealing information and passing it on to his new job.
According to The New York Post, the franchise has claimed that former team collaborator Ikechukwu Azotam took “thousands” of files containing confidential information about the Toronto Raptors.
The Knicks named Azotam, the Raptors organization, current Raptors head coach Darko Rajaković and player development coach Noah Lewis in a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York.
“The New York Knicks have sued the Toronto Raptors and several members of their organization, including a former Knicks employee, after the former employee illegally took thousands of proprietary files to his new position with the Toronto Raptors,” the Knicks told The Post in an opinion.
“These files include sensitive information such as game frequency reports, a 2022-23 season prep book, video scouting files and materials and more.” Given the clear violation of our employment contract, criminal and civil laws, we were left with no other choice, than to take that action.”
The New York Knicks have filed a lawsuit against the Toronto Raptors alleging the theft of proprietary information when an employee changed jobs from the Knicks to the Raptors
Newly installed Raptors coach Darko Rajaković is said to have gained access to confidential Knicks documents in order to acclimate himself to the league’s head coaching positions
The Knicks reportedly contacted the Raptors and the NBA bureau before filing the lawsuit (pictured: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver).
The lawsuit alleges that Rajaković, who was named the team’s head coach in June this year, wanted to use Azotam’s previous experience with the Knicks to help him acclimatize to the NBA’s top coaching ranks.
“To assist this inexperienced coach in his work, defendant Rajaković and the other Raptors defendants have conspired to use Azotam’s position as a current Knicks insider to leak confidential information to the Raptors to help with organization, planning and… To help structure the new trainer and video operations staff,” the lawsuit states.
Sources told the New York Post that the Knicks contacted both the Raptors and the NBA league office to let them know what they found — with no action taken prior to filing the lawsuit.
According to the Knicks lawsuit, Azotam “surreptitiously forwarded confidential information from his Knicks email account to his personal Gmail account, which he then shared with the Raptors defendants.”
“These materials included scouting reports, game frequency reports, a preparation book and a link to licensed third-party software,” the lawsuit continues.
“This material consists of classified, proprietary information that is critical to the Knicks’ efforts to maintain a competitive advantage over their rivals, including the Raptors.” maintain the secrecy of their confidential information.”