Ducati has accused the Managing Director of MV Agusta, Henry D’ Onofrio, of commiting industrial espionage. Namely, the Bologna based Ducati accuses D’Onofrio of violating Ducati trade secrets, unlawful competition, and aggravated robbery against his former employer.
Since May 1st, D’Onofrio has been the Managing Director of MV Agusta, the company’s most senior post since its acquisition by Harley-Davidson. Before this, the 51 year-old Italian was the Corporate General Director of MV Agusta, and previously worked at Ducati as the company’s Chief Financial Officer.
Monday, the Guardia di Finanza (think the Italian version of the SEC) searched D’onofio’s home and office in Varese, Italy. According to D’Onofrio’s lawyer, the Guardia seized computers, and the files on his hard drives.
Commenting further, D’Onofrio’s lawyer, Alessandro Didde, stated that his client had not taken any proprietary information, and the only documents he took with him when he left Ducati were available in the public domain. Didde finished his comment by saying, that “there is nothing that D’Onofrio has used these data to the benefit of the new employer.”
There has been no comment from Ducati on the situation yet.
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