Yahoo sues former staffer for alleged leaks to writer

Yahoo is going after a former employee the company claims was spilling its secrets.

The lawsuit alleges that Cecile Lal, who was chief of staff to a vice president at Yahoo, leaked information about the company to journalist Nicholas Carlson for his book "Marissa Mayer and the Fight to Save Yahoo!" The suit was filed in Santa Clara County in California on Wednesday and was first reported by Bloomberg.

Carlson, chief correspondent at the website Business Insider, chronicles in his book the tenure of Yahoo CEO Mayer, a former Google executive, as she's tried to turn around the troubled Internet giant since taking the helm in 2012.

Yahoo says Cecile Lal, a former employee, leaked information to author Nicholas Carlson.Richard Nieva/CNET

Yahoo claims Lal violated her employment agreement by divulging secrets to Carlson through email and phone conversations. The company claims Lal's correspondence with Carlson began in April 2014.

Some of what Lal allegedly leaked was information from Yahoo's weekly "FYI" meetings, which Mayer holds to address goings-on at the company. The meetings include a question and answer session with employees, and transcripts are available on a password-protected site called Backyard. Yahoo said Lal apparently shared her password to the site with Carlson.

"Lal's unapologetic breaches of her confidentiality obligations to Yahoo and Yahoo's trust in her took many forms," the company said in the complaint.

Lal could not immediately be reached for comment. A Yahoo spokeswoman said the company couldn't comment on active litigation.

Source:http://www.cnet.com/