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FILE – New York Knicks owner James Dolan, front right, watches the first half of an NBA basketball game March 6, 2020, at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Knicks are suing the Toronto Raptors, and a former Knicks employee Monday, Aug. 21, 2023, saying the worker stole thousands of videos and other scouting secrets to give to his new Canadian employer. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Knicks sued the Toronto Raptors, their new head coach, and a former Knicks scouting employee on Monday, saying the defendants conspired to steal thousands of videos and other scouting secrets over the past few weeks.
The lawsuit in Manhattan federal court seeks unspecified damages and a ban on the further spread of the Knicks’ trade secrets. The lawsuit claimed that secrets including scouting and play frequency reports, along with a prep book and a link to valuable software, had been downloaded thousands of times by Raptors employees.
“This material consists of secret, proprietary information critical to the Knicks’ efforts to maintain a competitive advantage over their rivals, including the Raptors,” the lawsuit said.
The Knicks said the theft occurred in recent weeks after the Raptors hired and recruited “a mole” within the Knicks organization. The lawsuit identified him as Ikechukwu Azotam, who since August 2021 had directed the planning, organizing, and distribution of all video scouting responsibilities for the Knicks’ coaching staff.
They blamed Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic, hired in June, along with player development coach Noah Lewis, the Raptors’ parent company — Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. — and 10 unidentified Raptors employees, saying that they received proprietary information and sometimes directed Azotam to misuse his access to Knicks information.
In a statement Monday, the Raptors…
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