Citadel Securities has filed a lawsuit against two former employees, Leonard Lancia and Alex Casimo, alleging they stole trade secrets to establish their own market-making firm for cryptocurrencies, Portofino Technologies. The company claims that Lancia and Casimo began raising capital and constructing their high-frequency trading firm while still employed at Citadel Securities, granting them access to confidential information. Citadel Securities seeks a trial to determine the scale of potential monetary damages and possible restitution.
The complaint filed by Citadel Securities accuses the pair of engaging in a "brazen scheme to steal Citadel Securities' trade secrets, lie to their Citadel Securities colleagues, and raid the ranks of Citadel Securities' employees." As of now, Casimo has not provided any comments on the issue. In September, Lancia and Casimo disclosed that their firm Portofino was supported by $50 million from venture capitalists.
Citadel Securities, a high-frequency trading firm founded by billionaire Ken Griffin and helmed by CEO Peng Zhao, employs approximately 1,600 individuals across Chicago, New York, and Miami. As a market maker, the firm leverages technology and algorithms to execute trades within fractions of a second. On the other hand, Portofino offers liquidity in crypto markets to financial institutions and affluent individuals, conducting trades on both centralized and decentralized exchanges as well as over the counter. Furthermore, Portofino provides advice and technical support to web3 startups intending to list their assets on exchanges.
According to the lawsuit, Citadel Securities unearthed messages and a pitch deck from Portofino's early fundraising efforts during an internal investigation. These were found several months before Lancia and Casimo declared their intention to leave Citadel Securities. In one of these messages, Casimo allegedly offered a potential partner information regarding "latency considerations for HFT trading."
