US: Fake docs add bizarre twist to non-poaching suit

A bizarre yet seemingly legitimate court filing produced in a high-profile antitrust case regarding the hiring practices of major tech firms including Apple and Google has turned out to be a fake, adding a new twist in the plot.

According to reports, the document filed Monday was filed as a motion by additional plaintiffs; the document described alleged connections between US District Judge Lucy Joh and the White House, President Barack Obama’s ties with the defendants, and other strange claims.

The document also reportedly used lawyer Cathy Elliot Jones’s state bar number and signature.

”That’s my state bar number, but I did not file that,” she said. “Somebody just hijacked my name and bar number. I’m really mad about this.”

On Tuesday afternoon, reports say, yet another similar document appeared on the docket.

The court denied the first fake notion and began investigating the incident, but has not commented on the reported second fake filing. A spokesperson said the filing involved the court’s electronic filing system and that an investigation is under way.

Such false filings are rare, reports say.

The matter has added a new twist to the case in which 64,000 tech employees of Silicon Valley sued Google, Apple, Intel and Adobe of unfairly colluding and striking anticompetitive agreements to not hire each others employees in efforts to keep wages down between 2005 and 2009. While the plaintiffs sought $3 billion in damages, a $324 million settlement is currently pending approval.

Full content: Wall Street Journal

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