Ex-Citadel Securities employees at Portofino want their dispute heard in London

efinancialcareers.com:

Much as Citadel Securities is lauded for itsgenerosity and itsfine internships, people there do leave. And when they do, the strict covenants in its employment contracts can be challenging, not least because Citadel Securities polices them very aggressively.

In March 2021, Leonard Lancia and Alex Casimo left their jobs at Citadel Europe in London, where they made markets in European options. They say they were unhappy with the 'limited resources' and 'low priority' given to the European business. The two then founded Portofino Technologies, a crypto market maker. But, as we reported in May, Citadel was not happy with that. — In a US court filing, it claimed (among other things) that Lancia and Casimo, “engaged in a brazen scheme to steal Citadel Securities’ trade secrets, lie to their Citadel Securities colleagues and raid the ranks of Citadel Securities’ employees.”

Today, Lancia and Casimo have issued their rebuttal to that filing. They want the US case dismissed and for the issue to be dealt with in London. 

They point out that most of the evidence and witnesses are in London, that Portofino is in London (the US company, Portofino Technologies USA, Inc., has never been used for any purpose; has no assets, no operations, and no employees) that the case concerns Citadel Securities' European operation, that the search firm which allegedly poached Citadel Securities employees is in London, and that the firms funding Portofino area all in London too. 

By comparison, they say the case has almost nothing to do with New York, but for the fact that Portofino allegedly poached a single Citadel Securities employee from there.

Portofino's rebuttal also states that before it filed the case in New York, Citadel Securities filed