NEW YORK — The New York Knicks sued the Toronto Raptors, their new head coach, and a former Knicks scouting employee on Monday. They claimed that the defendants conspired to steal thousands of videos and other scouting secrets over the past few weeks.
The Knicks filed the lawsuit in Manhattan federal court, seeking unspecified damages and a ban on the further spread of the Knicks’ trade secrets. The lawsuit alleges that secrets, including scouting reports and valuable software, were downloaded thousands of times by Raptors employees.
The Knicks said that the theft occurred after the Raptors hired a former Knicks employee as a mole within the organization. The employee, identified as Ikechukwu Azotam, was responsible for video scouting for the Knicks coaching staff. The lawsuit also accuses Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic, player development coach Noah Lewis, the Raptors’ parent company Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Limited, and 10 unidentified Raptors employees of receiving and misusing Knicks’ proprietary information.
The Raptors and their parent company denied any involvement in the alleged theft and stated they will conduct an internal investigation and cooperate fully.
The Knicks discovered the theft when their security team identified it last Tuesday, after Azotam had already left the Knicks and joined the Raptors. According to the lawsuit, Azotam sent two emails containing proprietary information from his Knicks email address to his new Raptors email address.
The lawsuit claims that Azotam also transferred over 3,000 files, including video files, to the Raptors for their use. The stolen files were accessed over 2,000 times by Raptors employees, according to the lawsuit.
In response to the lawsuit, Madison Square Garden Sports said they had no choice but to take legal action due to the clear violation of their employment agreement and the law.
