Dannon in yogurt fight with former executive who left for Chobani

Dannon wants its secrets back.

The White Plains yogurt-maker sued former executive Federico Muyshondt in federal court in White Plains on Wednesday claiming that for months he took sensitive information before resigning in January.

He did so, The Dannon Co. alleges, “in an apparent attempt to provide Dannon”™s confidential information and trade secrets to its direct competitor and his new employer, Chobani LLC.”

Chobani, headquartered in Norwich, New York, is not named as a defendant.

Muyshondt, of Mount Kisco, could not be reached for a response.

He joined Dannon in 2010 as a sales manager. Last year he was promoted to senior vice president in charge of sales teams that cover the Eastern Seaboard and Kroger supermarkets in the Midwest.

He resigned on Jan. 16, four days after he received a six-figure bonus, the complaint states. Now he works for Chobani as senior vice president ”“ grocery, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Dannon said it discovered unusual downloading activity on his company equipment after his exit interview.

The company said Muyshondt had been preparing to leave at least since August, when he attended a seminar where a Chobani executive spoke.

From August to the day he resigned, Dannon alleges, Muyshondt forwarded sensitive financial information, business plans, sales staff contacts and employee noncompete agreements to his personal email account.

He is accused of downloading thousands of electronic files with trade secrets onto several USB devices. He removed the SIM card from a company-issued mobile phone, containing information on contacts, and substituted a new SIM card.

Four days before he resigned, he allegedly had his executive administrator provide him with emails for everyone on his sales teams, including information that would enable him to contact them outside of the company”™s email system.

Dannon claims that Muyshondt had no need for much of the information he forwarded or downloaded. He had no duties, for instance, that would require him to have noncompete agreements of other employees.

The downloads allegedly included calendars concerning pricing promotions and sales strategies for certain products.

Chobani could use the calendars to time its own promotions, Dannon said, and reap substantial revenues at Dannon”™s expense.

Muyshondt had signed a confidentiality agreement when he was hired, Dannon said, and he had undergone compliance training on protecting company information.

Dannon accuses its former executive of misappropriation of trade secrets and confidential information, breach of a confidentiality agreement, conversion of confidential information and equipment, and breach of his duties of loyalty and fidelity to the company.

Dannon is asking for unspecified monetary damages and for an order compelling Muyshondt to return “sums paid to him during the period of his disloyalty.”

It also wants the court to stop Muyshondt from using confidential information, make him return the information and company property and order him to account for any disclosures he has made of confidential information or trade secrets.