Hats off to Morningstar and Reuters for tracking down the man of the hour, Jeff Gundlach, on Thursday night to get his reaction to the lawsuit that ex-employer TCW filed against him earlier in the day.

Jeffrey Gundlach

To read the rest of the story of the fight between Gundlach and TCW, click here.

In a phone interview with Morningstar's Jason Stipp, Gundlach called the allegations "shabby, groundless, and pointless, serving no purpose but an attempt to embarrass me and [DoubleLine]." To read the story, go here.

TCW, in its 40-page complaint filed with the State Superior Court in Los Angeles, accuses Gundlach of stealing trade secrets, making false statements about TCW and keeping marijuana and pornographic materials in his TCW office.

Reuters was also able to contact Gundlach on Thursday night. "I am not distracted by frivolous, pointless, irrelevant and untrue allegations from the TCW lawsuit," Gundlach told the wire service. "Any significant allegations will be proven to be untrue through a legal process." Click here for the article.

See also coverage from the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg.

Besides Gundlach, three other defendants in the case are Barbara Vanevery, Cris Santa Ana and Jeffrey Mayberry, who all left with Gundlach after he was fired.

The main case against Gundlach revolves around a string of incidents involving theft of company documents and client data. TCW claims that Gundlach and his collaborators "conspired while at TCW to steal confidential and proprietary TCW information” and have “solicited business from [TCW clients] by making false statements about TCW and its capabilities."

According to the suit, Santa Ana and Mayberry misappropriated client information and contacts, and a number of company databases. In one instance, TCW alleges, Santa Ana was told he was only allow to remove personal, and not company, documents from the building, after which he hid company files in a folder marked "Personal."

TCW says the "measurable damages for Defendants' wrongful conduct exceed $200 million, but the intangible losses to reputation, security and on-going operations will be incalculable." The company is also demanding that they receive "all revenues DoubleLine has derived and will derive in the future." 

Edited by: Daniel Tovrov


Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE