Milwaukee-based ManpowerGroup is seeking at least $2 million from a former executive, alleging he breached his fiduciary duty and contract in rubber-stamping wire transfers to hackers.
Sheldon Schur filed a lawsuit against Manpower last month alleging he was denied his full severance package after he was terminated over his handling of an email wire transfer scheme that targeted the company.
Both sides declined to comment when the case was initially filed and neither immediately responded to requests for comment on the latest filing.
Schur joined Manpower in 2006 and was eventually promoted to vice president and general manager for global sales in 2013.
According to Schur’s complaint, hackers gained access last fall to one of his top team members responsible for a major corporate client. The hackers then allegedly sent a number of wire transfer requests that appeared routine and were approved, even though the money actually went to the hackers’ bank account.
In Schur’s version of events, he denied a $3 million transfer request on Dec. 19, leading ManpowerGroup to launch an investigation into the transfers. Schur alleges he was wrongly terminated in March for his role in the company falling victim to the scheme.
In answering Schur’s lawsuit, ManpowerGroup makes a counterclaim of its own, alleging Schur had approved fraudulent transfers on five occasions, sometimes within a minute or two of the hackers making a request.
“Had Schur exercised even minimal diligence, he would have noticed that the transfer was for an unusually large amount, was directed to a bank in Hong Kong and included documentation containing ‘authorizations’ from executives who had not worked for the company for years,” the counterclaim says of one of the transactons.
When Schur was asked if he had reviewed and approved the transfers, he allegedly admitted in an email “he was unsure what the wires were even though he had approved them,” according to the ManpowerGroup counterclaim.
When an employee sent him an attachment showing Schur the approvals, he allegedly emailed back “approved,” ManpowerGroup’s court document says.
The company also alleges Schur retained his company laptop, cellphone and other confidential information after he was terminated.
The company alleges Schur broke his fiduciary duty and his employment agreement and is seeking a $2 million award, plus other damages.
