Arthur Riel, the former chief technology executive at Morgan Stanley, says he has proof that the firm made him a scapegoat after firing him for his alleged mishandling of e-mails that led to the $1.45 billion verdict against the company in a legal tangle with Ronald Perelman. The New York Post reports that included in Riel’s $20 million wrongful-termination suit against Morgan Stanley is e-mails from top company executives indicating concerns about the investment bank’s record keeping.
According to the Post, two top executives were taken off the regular e-mail system, a move, according to Jeff Pagano, the attorney representing Riel, which could violate Sarbanes-Oxley e-mail retention standards. An MS spokesman told the Post that Riel’s recent filing is just an attempt to “create a smokescreen for his own highly unprofessional conduct for which he was justifiably terminated.”