Freeman settles lawsuit against fintech banker Seto

Freeman & Co’s lawsuit against Tony Seto, the fintech banker who was accused of stealing trade secrets from the investment bank, has been dismissed.

Parties involved in the lawsuit have settled, said Jonathan Sack, of Sack & Sack, in an emailed response to questions. Sack, who represented Freeman, declined to disclose terms of the agreement.

The lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice, a Nov. 6 filing said. This means the settlement between the parties is final and that the plaintiff, Freeman, is barred from bringing another lawsuit based on the same claim.

Eric Weber, Freeman’s CEO, did not return calls or messages seeking comment.

Freeman, a New York boutique investment bank, sued Seto in April after the banker left and joined a rival bank.

Freeman alleged that Seto attempted to woo clients before he resigned, uploaded proprietary information to his personal hard drives and cloud accounts, and refused to return the info even after joining competitor Berkshire Capital.

The lawsuit, filed in in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, also named Berkshire as a defendant for allegedly aiding and abetting Seto. Berkshire did not return calls for comment about the dismissal.

Seto, who specializes in payments, joined Freeman in January 2017 as co-head of the firm’s financial-technology sector. He resigned from Freeman on or about March 9 and began working at Berkshire around March 12, the filing said.

Seto is no longer employed by Berkshire. He could not be reached for comment.

Action Item: Contact Freeman’s Eric Weber at +1 212-830-6161.