Nearly two years have
passed since Bill Gross exited PIMCO, and the former co-founder is now urging
the court to “put a stop to PIMCO’s behavior” in victimizing him.
In a new motion in his
$200 million lawsuit against the Newport Beach-based firm, Gross and his
lawyers claimed PIMCO has “engaged in willful and bad-faith obstruction” of
Gross’ efforts to pursue the case.
Specifically, the filing
alleged PIMCO proposed a deposition in London on November 2 and another in Hong
Kong the next day.
“PIMCO knows that this is
not possible,” Gross’ counsel continued. “Discovery is not, and should not be,
a game to be manipulated in this manner. PIMCO has now cost Mr. Gross nearly a
year of the case through its bad faith conduct and improper delays.”
Furthermore, PIMCO “made
no effort” to give Gross information regarding the firm’s compensation
practices for other executives, he alleged—information the now-Janus executive
needs “to demonstrate PIMCO’s custom and practice for compensating departing
employees as well as its own interpretation of its obligation under the profit
sharing plan.”
Gross’ lawsuit has
asserted that he is owed a bonus of nearly $80 million for the third quarter of
2014, as well as a 20% share of PIMCO’s $1.3 billion bonus pool. Last April,
PIMCO claimed that Gross “freely and knowingly waived any right he might have had
to such a payment.”
To disprove this, Gross
has requested records of “PIMCO’s treatment of other employees that engaged in
conduct similar to what PIMCO alleges justified [his] ouster,” but the firm has
also withheld such information, he claimed.
Gross is also seeking information
regarding PIMCO’s investment strategy—“both before and after [his] tenure”—to
show a move from “conservative and staid bond funds” to “higher-profit,
higher-risk investment activities,” according to the motion.
“This drive towards ever
more profit from fees and investment risk also became a drive by these younger
PIMCO executives [former co-CIO Mohamed El-Erian, now-group CIO Dan Ivascyn,
and others] to seize a greater share of PIMCO’s profits by wrongly terminating
Mr. Gross,” the motion claimed.
Such delays in scheduling
depositions, gathering evidence, and providing information “goes far beyond mere
aggressive litigation,” Gross concluded, “and constitutes sanctionable
discovery abuse.”
Related: PIMCO:
Bill Gross ‘Freely and Knowingly’ Forfeited Compensation & Inside
Bill Gross’ Lawsuit