Was the executive a spy? The Hershey Co. sues former top official it accuses of corporate espionage – By Matt Miller (Penn Live) / Jan 29 2020
The Hershey Company is accusing a former top executive of committing corporate espionage, and it and wants a federal judge to order him to repay hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The target of Hershey’s lawsuit filed suit in U.S. Middle District Court is Doug Behrens, who is now chief customer officer of KIND LLC, a snack food maker and a competitor of Hershey.
The suit reads like the intro to a spy novel.
Behrens “orchestrated a secret plan to steal some of Hershey’s most sensitive trade secret and confidential business information and hide his tracks after doing so,” Hershey lawyer Michael S. Burkhardt wrote. “He got caught. Nevertheless, Behrens refuses to repay Hershey a single cent of the hundreds of thousands of dollars he owes it under multiple contracts.”
Behrens couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on Hershey’s complaint.
He was a relative short-timer at the company, according to the suit. During his 16-month stint at Hershey, Behrens was president of Amplify Snack Brands Inc., a healthy snack division of Hershey. He collected more than $1.5 million in compensation during his tenure, the suit states.
Continue to article: https://www.pennlive.com/news/2020/01/was-the-executive-a-spy-the-hershey-co-sues-former-top-official-it-accuses-of-corporate-espionage.html
