Jefferies, Cantor Settle Poaching Suit Over Banker Walkouts

(Bloomberg) -- Cantor Fitzgerald LP and Jefferies Financial Group Inc. agreed to settle a lawsuit stemming from a mass move of bankers between the firms, according to two people familiar with the case.

The case centered on the sudden resignation of 26 Jefferies bankers across New York, London and Hong Kong on the same day in November 2017. The settlement came after Cantor lost its attempt last year to dismiss the London suit.

Jefferies had accused the brokerage of making a “concerted global effort” to stop the bankers from repaying bonuses it says it was due. The investment bank argued they were owed the bonuses because by leaving the firm they breached their employment contracts.

In an amended defense filed by Cantor earlier this year, the brokerage said it “admits that it induced” the employees not to repay the bonuses “but denies that it acted unlawfully in so doing.”

Spokespeople for both Jefferies and Cantor declined to comment.

London’s courts have played host to several high profile lawsuits over the poaching of employees to rival firms. BGC Partners Inc. and Tradition agreed to settle a $35 million lawsuit in the middle of its trial over the poaching of a flagship team in 2019.

Jefferies was also in a London court in September in a separate poaching suit. On that occasion it was the investment bank accused of inducing a group of employees from Stifel Financial Corp. to leave on the same day in 2019.

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