Tag: truist bank

A high-stakes legal battle, pitting Charlotte-based bank Truist against three of its former top mortgage executives, is accelerating toward a decision in North Carolina Business Court.

At the heart of the case is an alleged corporate raid that Truist claims bled its mortgage business, Grandbridge Real Estate Capital, of more than $120 million in lost profits and dozens of key employees.

The nearly three-year dispute took a pivotal procedural step this month.

N.C. Business Court Judge A. Todd Brown ordered both Truist and the former executives — Grandbridge CEO Matthew Rocco, COO Joe Lovell and national production manager John Randall — to file itemized lists of undisputed facts in the case within 30 days.

Truist claims the three defendants enriched themselves by more than $61 million as a result of the scheme. The defendants, have denied all the allegations.

All three former executives worked in Mecklenburg County, according to court documents.

Brown’s directive, issued during a Jan. 14 hearing, is designed to clarify facts before he rules on competing motions for summary judgment, a decision that could either resolve the case or send it to a jury.

The lawsuit, filed by Truist and its subsidiary Grandbridge in March 2023, accuses the trio of colluding to defect to rival Colliers Mortgage Holdings. Each of the executives, who had been earning over $1 million annually, resigned from Grandbridge in December 2022.

Truist details allegations against former bank executives

Truist’s complaint paints a picture of betrayal and covert meetings preceding the exodus.

The plotting, Truist claims, began in August 2022 when Rocco, Lovell, and other Grandbridge employees allegedly met with Colliers executives to discuss working together, all without the knowledge of Truist or its head of commercial real estate.

The following month, Colliers sent an unsolicited offer to buy Grandbridge directly to Rocco. Truist rejected the offer.

In October 2022, Rocco organized a meeting at a Charlotte hotel with Grandbridge’s top producers and business leaders, excluding Truist officials, according to the lawsuit.

Rocco expressed his displeasure that Truist had refused to negotiate with Colliers, and then allegedly “alarmed” the Grandbridge employees by suggesting their pay and way of life were in jeopardy. He proposed they all leave for Colliers together, according to the complaint.

Truist alleges that in the weeks that followed, Rocco and other executives essentially quit performing their jobs at Grandbridge, refusing to attend meetings with key business partners and intending to “poison” the workplace.

The defections began in early December 2022 with the resignations of Rocco and Lovell.

Days later, on Dec. 23, Colliers announced Rocco had been hired as its new president and Lovell as executive vice president and chief administrative officer. Randall followed shortly after, with Colliers naming him head of national production on Jan. 6, 2023.

‘Mass departure’ at Truist bank

More impactful, Truist claimed, was the “mass departure” that followed: within days of hiring the executives, Colliers began hiring many of Grandbridge’s top performers, leading to over 20 key revenue-producing employees leaving.

Truist accuses Colliers of orchestrating a “predatory raid” on Grandbridge to steal business and clients, weakening the firm to force a sale.

The former executives also are accused of breaching security policies and non-disclosure agreements, allegedly collecting confidential information, including one instance where an employee who now works at Colliers was directed to email restricted documents from his Grandbridge account to his personal email.

Truist is seeking compensatory damages, an injunction against further soliciting and hiring of its employees, and attorney fees.

Defendants blame Truist for the turmoil

But the three defendants said the story is different.

Rocco, Lovell and Randall denied wrongdoing, arguing Truist’s own decisions triggered the turmoil that followed their departures.

They claimed that Truist ignored their recommendations and pursued a direction they believed was not in the best interests of employees or customers. Their resignations, they said in court filings, were the natural result.

The former executives admit meeting with Colliers representatives but said such meetings were routine and known to Truist leadership, court records showed. They acknowledged negotiating with Colliers before accepting new roles but denied any improper solicitation of Grandbridge employees.

Colliers also denied Truist’s allegations of employee poaching, saying the bank is relying on speculation and punishing competition.

The company’s interest in acquiring Grandbridge and later hiring its former executives was driven by “legitimate business reasons,” according to court filings. Colliers said North Carolina law protects employees as at-will workers who are not bound by non-compete agreements.

Truist also failed to identify what confidential information was taken or acquired by Colliers, according to the firm’s response in court filings.

Truist declined a request for comment. Neither Colliers officials nor their lawyers responded to a request for comment.

The attorney representing the three former executives also did not respond for comment.