Jeff Gundlach took the stand for the first time yesterday in his courtroom fight in Los Angeles with Societe Generale subsidiary TCW [see profile], and he'll return to the stand on Monday. The DoubleLine [see profile] chief and ex-TCW chief investment investment officer denied ordering his team to swipe data from TCW, and he denied planning to leave the company [see transcript].

Jeff Gundlach DoubleLine Capital CEO

To read the rest of the story of the fight between Gundlach and TCW, click here.

Bloomberg (in multiple articles: here, here and here), the International Business Times, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Pensions & Investments and Reuters all covered Gundlach's testimony yesterday.

"There was never an instruction to do anything," Gundlach reportedly said in a videotape deposition played before his testimony yesterday.

Gundlach explained reacting badly (via e-mail) when he found out that incoming CEO Marc Stern was meeting separately with Gundlach's second in command, Philip Barach.

"It seemed like they were dividing and conquering," Gundlach reportedly testified yesterday, claiming TCW "wouldn't tell the truth to people." "They should've said 'We want to get rid of Jeffrey and we want you to take over.'"

"I never made the decision to leave," Gundlach added. "I loved TCW."

TCW fired Gundlach in December 2009 and announced a deal to buy rival MetWest to take Gundlach's team's place. Gundlach and his colleagues launched DoubleLine weeks later. TCW sued Gundlach and three others in January 2009 for alleged theft of trade secrets, and Gundlach counter-sued for breach of contract. Both Los Angeles-based mutual fund firms are asking for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. The trial began on July 25. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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