Bank of America has accused a former computer programmer of stealing trade secrets from the bank before he was laid off last month.
In a lawsuit filed with a US federal court, Bank of America alleges that Rao Chalasani e-mailed 21 confidential files to himself the night before the company was to announce 400 lay-offs in its global markets group in New York.
The files detailed the bank's P&L figures, current trading positions, credit reports and stress management scenarios.
The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan on Thursday, is seeking return of the stolen documents and unspecified damages.
The transgression was uncovered in a routine security review of large data file transfers from employee e-mail accounts.