A Valhalla chauffeuring business is trying to stop a former executive from using bankruptcy to avoid paying a $300,000 debt.
Leros Point To Point Inc. sued Daniel Aucar, of White Plains, in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Sept. 15, arguing that Aucar’s debt may not be discharged because it was the product of embezzlement or larceny.
Leros says Aucar used stolen trade secrets to form a competing company, “in violation of the confidentiality and non-solicitation agreement he signed.”
Leros describes itself as a family owned business established in 1983 that drives clients to and from airports, cruise terminals, concerts, sporting events, and weddings. It operates a fleet of sedans, SUVs, mini-buses and coach buses.
Aucar worked for Leros from 2011 to 2023 and held senior sales and management positions. In March 2023, in the sixth month of negotiations for a new employment agreement, Aucar resigned, effective immediately.
Aucar allegedly told Leros that he was leaving the chauffeuring industry to work in the wine industry.
But the day before he resigned, he allegedly texted a friend: “Starting my own company and giving Leros notice tomorrow. …. Spent the week meeting with my clients to let them know and I already have 3 that are ready to onboard me.”
On the day he resigned, Aucar and the wife of a Leros’ competitor incorporated GoJizo Corp., in New Jersey.
For months, Leros claims, Aucar had been forwarding confidential information about its largest corporate customers to his personal email account. He allegedly got two Leros customers to switch to the new business by using confidential pricing information to undercut Leros’ rates by 4%, costing Leros $300,000.
Leros sued Aucar in Westchester Supreme Court in 2023, accusing him of misappropriation of trade secrets and other charges.
Aucar counter-sued for $270,000 for defamation and other charges. He alleged, for instance, that Leros executives Michael Basso, Jeffrey Cartagena and Jeff Nyikos had impugned his reputation by falsely depicting him to other employees as a person of the lowest moral character.
The dispute was automatically put on hold, under bankruptcy regulations, when Aucar petitioned for Chapter 7 liquidation this past June.
He declared $165,500 in assets, consisting primarily of his home in White Plains and a 2015 Honda Civic with more than 189,000 miles. He listed $388,096 in liabilities, including $300,000 owed to Leros. He listed himself as owner of GoJizo Corp. and stated that the business has been non-operable since August 2024.
Now Leros is citing bankruptcy codes that do not allow discharge of debts incurred by “fraud or defalcation while acting in a fiduciary capacity, embezzlement, or larceny,” or “for willful and malicious injury by the debtor to another entity.”
Aucar did not reply to a message asking for his side of the story.
