American International Group thinks so, and has filed a lawsuit in New York against former CEO Peter Yu of AIG Capital Partners and former general counsel William Jarosz for violating the non-compete clauses in their termination agreements. Last April, the two were unceremoniously escorted out of the AIG offices, reportedly for protesting just a little too much against plans to spin-out the company’ private equity unit, AIG Capital Partners, as a separate business.
They went their merry way, and together Yu and Jarosz founded the Cartesian Capital Group, a New York-based private equity firm that AIG charges “directly competes” with AIGCP. It doesn’t stop there, though, according to AIG. The insurance giant claims the two men used its “confidential and proprietary information,” such as fund track records found on AIG computers, to help it raise money for two of its offerings, Pangaea Fund and Cartesian Capital Fund. While Yu and Jarosz haven’t commented on that charge, the two told PE Week Wire that, since they were “terminated without cause,” it “ended any non-compete obligations we might have had.”