Clash of the consultants: Secretariat sues rival over fake Glassdoor review
Consultancy firm Secretariat is suing rival HKA, after one of the bosses allegedly posted damaging reviews about Secretariat on website Glassdoor.
Secretariat has filed a lawsuit in California alleging that Toby Hunt, who is partner, chief business development officer and head of Europe at HKA, made damaging comments on employer review site Glassdoor while posing as a Secretariat employee.
According to Secretariat, the reviews are part of a wider and sustained smear campaign against the firm, designed to damage Secretariat’s reputation and market position.
Secretariat said it came at a time when Bridgepoint Advisers, the private equity house that owns HKA, was allegedly trying to sell the rival.
The fake Glassdoor review, allegedly written by Hunt, was posted in July 2020 and purported to be from a Secretariat employee based in the London office.
The post professed that the Secretariat employee was concerned about the “ethics” and “greed” of his employer, and that Secretariat’s reputation in the industry with clients and lawyers had been deteriorating as a result of a recent court case involving Secretariat.
The post also indicated the ‘employee’ gave a “disapprove” rating to Secretariat’s chief executive.
Secretariat said a review revealed that the post linked back to an email address connected to Toby Hunt and an IP address in his hometown in England. Glassdoor subsequently removed the fraudulent post for contravening the site’s Terms of Use.
Joseph Terry of Williams & Connolly, the attorney acting for Secretariat, said: “Secretariat filed a complaint today alleging in detail how Toby Hunt on behalf of HKA resorted to fraudulent and defamatory conduct against my client in an effort to destroy its reputation, sabotage its business, and interfere with its prospective business relations. We intend to prove that this was done with the goal of damaging Secretariat and improving HKA’s own competitive position, as its corporate parent, Bridgepoint Advisers, prepared to sell HKA.”
A spokesperson for HKA said: “We are aware of the filing made against HKA by Secretariat. The claims are baseless and entirely without merit. We intend to respond robustly and present all the relevant facts to the Court.
“The comments were made by a lone HKA employee online and are subject to an investigation. They were published without HKA’s knowledge. HKA is proud of the ethical approach we take to all our work.”