Knicks Are Suing Raptors Over Alleged Stolen Proprietary Information

The Toronto Raptors, members of the Raptors organization, and a former Knicks employee were all named in a lawsuit filed on Monday by the New York Knicks, who claimed the defendants “illegally procured and then disclosed proprietary information” to its Atlantic Division foe.

Knicks Are Suing Raptors Over Alleged Stolen Proprietary Information

The New York Knicks informed CNN on Monday that they had filed a lawsuit, among others, against the Toronto Raptors and its parent organization, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), saying that a former team member had stolen confidential information and given it to his new club.

Ikechukwu Azotam worked for the Knicks from 2020 to 2023. According to a copy of the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan and obtained by ESPN, the Knicks claim that after the team started recruiting him to join their organization in the summer 2023, Azotam sent the Raptors thousands of confidential files, including play frequency reports, a prep book for the 2022–23 season, video scouting files, opposition research, and more.

According to the lawsuit, the Raptors started recruiting Azotam to join the organization around the same time that they announced Rajakovi as their head coach in June of this year. Azotam worked for the team from October 2020 to August 2023 in a variety of capacities, most recently as a Director of Video/Analytics/Player Development Assistant.

The complaint claims that while Azotam was still working for the Knicks, Rajakovi and other Raptors employees planned to act as a “mole” and pass information to help the rookie head coach “organize, plan, and structure the new coaching and video operations staff.”

Azotam reportedly began surreptitiously forwarding sensitive material from his team account to his personal Gmail account and then sharing it with the Raptors staff after informing the Knicks that he had gotten a job offer from the club in July, according to the lawsuit.

Due to two of the league’s key shareholders now suing each other in civil court, this puts the league in an unpleasant situation. As with many of similar situations, this lawsuit will probably take a few years to resolve. Most likely, the league will want to settle the dispute before it becomes too complicated in court.

This kind of legal dispute has already arisen between two significant league parties. However, it has typically never reached the point where the federal, state, or municipal courts had to intervene and take over the case. When this occurs, the league usually steps in to handle it. They are able to do this behind the scenes when some kind of settlement between the two parties.

 

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