New episode in Hennessee soap opera

Former employees sued for stealing data

Happier days. From left, Hennessee group principal Charles Gradante, with Leeana Piscopo and Alex Smith-Ryland. Image source

With absolutely nothing happening in either financial markets generally or Hedgefundistan in particular, NakedShorts was pleasantly surprised to learn last week that two of Wall Street’s feuding families have gone to the mattresses. Appropriately enough.

The Hennessee Group LLC is suing former employees Leeana Piscopo and Alex Smith-Ryland, along with their current employers Manchester Square Investment Group LLC, for the theft of trade secrets, confidential material and proprietary information. Among Piscopo’s admitted takeaways: Hennessee’s commission model, used for billing fund managers and clients; a 7500-contact database; “hundreds of files...which included information regarding money managers, investors, prospects and evaluative processes;” and the Hennessee compliance manual.

Hennessee’s suit comes almost exactly two years after Piscopo sued Hennessee, run by Lee Hennessee and her husband Charles Gradante, for harassment, humiliation and assorted other indignities, up to and including firing her after she became pregnant by then co-worker (and now husband) Smith-Ryland. Piscopo is now Manchester Square’s chief financial officer, while Smith-Ryland is director of marketing.

According to the suit, Piscopo admitted, during a deposition taken late last year as part of her suit against Hennessee, taking the data.

Several things:

• Also named in the suit are Manchester Square co-founders Thomas Kyle and Rocco Capoccia; the latter has reportedly moved on to Cantor Fitzgerald as director of sales for its mortgage-backed securities department (and good luck with that, Rocco).
• On the probably dubious assumption that the FBI is done running in governors-and-hookers, Piscopo may have more to worry about than bringing up baby. Gradante said that a complaint concerning the data theft had been filed with the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Last year, in a somewhat analogous case, a former Morgan Stanley computer consultant was sentenced to 26 years in jail and fined $850,000 for stealing a database of that firm’s prime brokerage clients and fee schedules.
• Piscopo is represented by Saul Zabell, a prominent labor and employment attorney perhaps best known as the employer of one Chris Collotta, who last year got a wrist-tap sentence for passing on insider tips provided by his wife, former Morgan Stanley attorney Randi Collotta. In one of the more egregious miscarriages of justice in recent years, the Collottas escaped jail time.

Hennessee Group LLC v. Manchester Square et al
Supreme Court of the State of New York
Mar. 21 2008

Earlier: Ex-Hennessee exec sues over firing
Wall Street Follies Mar. 24 2006