Elmagin Capital, LLC v. Chao Chen, Karl Petty, Entergrid LLC, and Entergrid Fund I LLC

Analysis Group was retained on behalf of the defendants in a trade secret misappropriation and breach of contract dispute over whether the plaintiff’s trading strategies in wholesale electricity markets could be considered “protectable trade secrets.” The plaintiff, Elmagin Capital, alleged that certain elements of its trading strategies were misappropriated after one codefendant’s departure from Elmagin and subsequent founding of trading firm Entergrid with another codefendant.

An Analysis Group team – led by Principal Robert Vigil and including Vice Presidents Christopher Llop and Veronica Huan – supported Cristian Zarcu, an algorithmic trader who served as an expert witness for the defendants. Mr. Zarcu testified that a reasonably sophisticated algorithmic trading practitioner would be familiar with the techniques used in the at-issue trading strategies. In addition, Vice President Maria Garibotti testified on the lack of economic and scientific analysis supporting an opposing economic expert’s claims of similarity of Entergrid’s strategies compared to Elmagin’s. 

A jury in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania returned a favorable verdict for our clients, finding for the defendants on all claims, including a counterclaim that the suit was brought in bad faith.