A federal judge in Pittsburgh issued an injunction against an investment adviser who defected to another company, taking from his old employer a number of clients and their $4 million worth of investment assets.
U.S. District Court Judge Gary Lancaster's order on Thursday bars Mark A. Kovacs of Uniontown from using any confidential information from his former employer, NatCity Investments, Inc.
Kovacs resigned last month from NatCity and joined BPU Investments Inc.
Kovacs joined NatCity's Private Client Group in 1996 and handled "many of NatCity's largest and most valuable individual and institutional clients," according to the motion.
NatCity accused BPU of using the client information to "divert potential customers away from NatCity to BPU," according to the filing.
NatCity is an investment unit of National City Corp., with offices in Pittsburgh, Ligonier and Uniontown.
BPU Investments has offices in Pittsburgh and Greensburg.
Kovacs was accused by NatCity of breach of contract and fiduciary duty, misappropriation of trade secrets, conversion of corporate assets, unfair competition and unjust enrichment.
According to the injunction motion, Kovacs, who managed $100 million in investments at NatCity, resigned from NatCity on April 18 but four days earlier began "to systematically e-mail highly confidential NatCity documents" containing the names, account numbers and financial information to his new employer.
Four days after he resigned, NatCity alleged that BPU President Robert Unkovic sent letters to NatCity clients announcing that Kovacs was joining BPU.
NatCity alleges that the company lost $4 million worth of business when 18 clients jumped to BPU.
NatCity is pleased with the court's ruling, said National City spokesman Bill Eiler said.
Attorney Jane Lewis Volk, who represents Kovacs, could not be reached for comment.
