Gundlach-TCW Trade Secrets Trial Testimony - Hiding Data on Parents' Computer and the Ubiquitous Goldman Sachs

Reuters is reporting that trial testimony suggests Jeffrey Gundlach was exploring the possibility of leaving Trust Company of the West -- unsuccessfully seeking advice from Goldman Sachs -- a month before it fired him, a Gundlach co-worker and girlfriend testified in court.

Gundlach met with Goldman Sachs in November 2009 along with at least two other coworkers to seek advice on negotiating a deal with TCW -- or, if that failed, on leaving and forming a new company, Barbara VanEvery testified on Tuesday.

"I think he dreamt of one day having his own business," VanEvery, who was at the Goldman meeting, said at one point while being questioned by TCW attorney Steve Madison.
Goldman declined to act as intermediary in a deal with TCW, VanEvery said, and encouraged Gundlach to talk to TCW directly. VanEvery didn't say whether Gundlach ever did talk to TCW, and Gundlach was fired the following month.

VanEvery worked for Gundlach at TCW and followed him when Gundlach left to set up DoubleLine Capital in late 2009. She testified that she was also romantically involved with Gundlach at the time of the move.

Attorneys for DoubleLine did not question VanEvery on Tuesday, and her testimony is scheduled to continue on Wednesday in a Los Angeles courtroom.

Earlier on Tuesday, another co-defendant, Jeffrey Mayberry, said he had copied the entire contents of a flash drive with TCW information he hid from a company investigator onto his parents' personal computer. He did not tell them that he did so.

"At that point I decided the less people that knew, the better," Mayberry said, under questioning by a TCW attorney.

Under subsequent questioning by attorneys for DoubleLine, Mayberry said he and other former TCW employees were instructed not to use any TCW data.

DoubleLine then created new systems of its own, Mayberry said.

We'll keep blogging on this one.