New York Knicks sue ex-employee and the Raptors for ‘stealing thousands of proprietary files’

The New York Knicks have reportedly sued a former employee for allegedly stealing information and taking it to his new job. 

The franchise has alleged that former team employee, Ikechukwu Azotam, took ‘thousands’ of files of proprietary information with him to the Toronto Raptors, according to The New York Post. 

The Knicks named Azotam, the Raptors organization, current Raptors head coach Darko Rajaković and player development coach Noah Lewis in a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court in the Southern District of New York on Monday.

‘The New York Knicks have sued the Toronto Raptors and several members of their organization, including a former Knicks employee, after the former employee illegally took thousands of proprietary files with him to his new position with the Toronto Raptors,’ The Knicks told The Post in a statement.

‘These files include confidential information such as play frequency reports, a prep book for the 2022-23 season, video scouting files and materials and more. Given the clear violation of our employment agreement, criminal and civil law, we were left no choice but to take this action.’

The New York Knicks have filed a lawsuit against the Toronto Raptors for allegedly stealing proprietary information when an employee moved jobs from the Knicks to the Raptors

Newly installed Raptors coach Darko Rajaković allegedly gained access to confidential Knicks documents as he sought to get acclimated to the league’s head coaching ranks quicker

The Knicks allegedly contacted the Raptors and the NBA office before filing the suit (pictured: NBA commissioner Adam Silver)

The suit alleges that Rajaković, who was named head coach of the team in June of this year, sought to use Azotam’s past experience with the Knicks to get acclimated to the NBA’s top coaching ranks quicker.

‘To assist this novice coach in doing his job, Defendant Rajaković and the other Raptors Defendants conspired to use Azotam’s position as a current Knicks insider to funnel proprietary information to the Raptors to help them organize, plan, and structure the new coaching and video operations staff,’ the suit claims.

Sources told the New York Post that the Knicks reached out to both the Raptors and the NBA league office to inform them of what they found – with no action being taken before the lawsuit was filed. 

According to the Knicks’ suit, Azotam ‘began secretly forwarding proprietary information from his Knicks email account to his personal Gmail account, which he then shared with Raptors defendants.’

‘These materials included scouting reports, play frequency reports, a prep book, and a link to third-party licensed software,’ the suit continued.

‘This material consists of secret, proprietary information critical to the Knicks’ efforts to maintain a competitive advantage over their rivals, including the Raptors. The Knicks take their cybersecurity very seriously and take great precautions to preserve the secrecy of their confidential information.’