China Hedge Fund Loses Case Against Top Quant Who Joined Rival

(Bloomberg) — Shanghai Ruitian Investment LLC, a top Chinese quantitative hedge fund founded by an ex-Citadel researcher, lost a high-profile lawsuit claiming a former staff member infringed its technology secrets when he joined a larger rival.

The case centered on Ruitian’s former head of high-frequency trading strategy, Yang Yunhao, who joined Zhejiang High-Flyer Asset Management. The Shanghai First Intermediate People’s Court supported an earlier ruling that Ruitian should pay Yang about 3.5 million yuan ($495,000) in economic damages including for a non-compete agreement, and rejected the firm’s other requests on appeal, according to court documents released this month.