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Trade Secrets and Whistleblower Disclosures

By Philip M. Berkowitz
April 02, 2017

A national bank client calls you and says that an internal auditor employee, who has signed stringent confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements, has provided highly confidential bank and customer documents and information to the SEC and other government enforcement agencies. He has also sent these documents to The New York Times, which publishes an article about your client, causing its share value to drop 30%.

For good measure, the auditor also sent files, including customer Social Security numbers, to his mother (for safekeeping), uses his girlfriend's computer to access confidential company documents, deletes hundreds of confidential files from his company-issued laptop, and uses his personal Gmail account to email confidential company information to his Gmail address.

No, you're not having a nightmare. You are not dreaming. This scenario happened to the California bank BofI (formerly known as Bank of Internet USA). The disturbing facts and their legal aftermath are set forth in a 2017 federal court decision, Erhart v. BofI Holding, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20959 (S.D. Cal. Feb. 14, 2017), charmingly issued on Valentine's Day.

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