In a recent legal development within the realm of crypto taxation, a specialized law firm has initiated a trade secrets lawsuit in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. This lawsuit targets both a rival firm and a former employee, alleging the unauthorized acquisition and utilization of confidential materials, which were subsequently featured in YouTube videos. Among the sensitive information purportedly misappropriated are templates, client forms, and other proprietary resources crucial to the operations of the plaintiff firm.
The plaintiff, Gordon Law Group, has filed suit against Justin McCormick, a former employee, and his current employer, Founder’s CPA, on multiple legal grounds. McCormick’s tenure at Gordon Law Group lasted less than nine months, spanning from December 4, 2021, to August 16, 2022. Following his departure, he assumed the role of senior associate within the digital asset department at Founder’s CPA, an entity offering services akin to those of Gordon Law Group.
During his employment at Gordon Law Group, McCormick was entrusted with responsibilities encompassing the creation of marketing collateral and training materials for the firm, as outlined in the lawsuit.
Gordon Law has accused a former employee of divulging confidential crypto tax information.
In March 2023, the former employee purportedly made a public disclosure of a Google Drive folder, which contained a trove of confidential data belonging to Gordon Law. Among the contents were what the firm described as “virtual replicas” of its operational processes, templates, automated converters, folder structures, and various other sensitive materials crucial to its operations.
Gordon Law further alleges that McCormick retained possession of confidential spreadsheets, scripts, formulas, and electronic documents that are exclusively owned by the firm. Despite these allegations, neither McCormick nor Founder’s CPA responded to requests for comment from Cryptonews at the time of press.
The ex-employee’s videos allegedly mimic Gordon Law’s methods.
Moreover, the training materials uncovered by Gordon Law purportedly demonstrate that McCormick and Founder’s CPA are extensively employing the unique and confidential methods and processes proprietary to Gordon Law.
The lawsuit provides detailed instances of the alleged misappropriation of trade secrets. One such instance revolves around a video published on the Founder’s CPA YouTube channel on May 6, 2023. Titled “Crypto Taxes Made Easy: Setting Up Your Inventory,” the video, narrated by McCormick, included a link to the aforementioned Google Drive folder.
According to the lawsuit, this video explicitly outlined Gordon Law’s internally-developed procedure for establishing a “client inventory,” utilizing precisely the same tools and templates utilized by the firm.
Furthermore, the lawsuit cites another occurrence on May 15, 2023. A 42-minute video, once again narrated by McCormick, was published on the same channel. This video specifically delved into the two software tools employed by Gordon Law to “pull data” and generate a usable dataset.
The lawsuit alleges that “Founder’s CPA and McCormick have used and continue to use Gordon Law’s trade secrets and confidential information to their benefit for the creation of cryptocurrency tax reports for Founder’s CPA clients.”
Notably, the videos identified in the lawsuit seem to have been removed from the YouTube channel.
In addition to seeking reimbursement for attorney’s fees incurred during the litigation, Gordon Law is also pursuing an equitable accounting to ascertain the total profits lost due to the alleged misappropriation.
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