Bank Fight!

Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch division (so sad) is suing Deutsche Bank over the German bank’s poaching of 12 investment bankers.  In February, DB hired a financial institutions team led by Eric Heaton (Merrill’s former treasurer and previously head of Americas financial institutions IB), his brother David (previously head of Global Asset Management), Richard Slimmon (European financial institutions IB), and Richard Gibb (former head of financial sponsors for APAC).

Now, Bank of Amerrillwide is suing, claiming Eric Heaton failed to give sufficient notice and breached his noncompete, both by taking employment with a competitor and by “conspiring” with DB to lure the other 11 away.  DB is also alleged to have interfered with employee contracts and misappropriated trade secrets.

Merrill is seeking damages in excess of $100 million in the suit, which was filed in New York Supreme Court on Tuesday.

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3. Merrill Lynch Layoffs Revisited
4. Rakoff Calls Paul Weiss Hypocritical
5. Merrill Lynch Cuts 6 in Law Dept