Guy Carpenter has won a lawsuit against two former employees and a rival brokerage after the Singapore High Court ruled they conspired to unlawfully divert business from Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance (SFIMI).
In a judgment delivered on 3 December, Judicial Commissioner Mohamed Faizal found former Guy Carpenter executives Celeste Choi Okmi and Dominic Lee Dong Yeol liable for breaching their duties of good faith and fidelity.
The court also ruled against South Korean intermediary LK Insurance Services and its Singapore subsidiary, LK Re, for their roles in the conspiracy.
The case centred on the transfer of Samsung Fire & Marine’s domestic warehouse risk account to LK Re. Guy Carpenter claimed the loss of the account resulted in approximately US$1.3m in lost brokerage revenue.
The court rejected defence arguments that SFIMI had transferred its business solely for commercial reasons. Judicial Commissioner Faizal determined that Choi and Lee had coordinated to move the account to LK Re—a firm the defendants had helped establish—while still employed by Guy Carpenter.
“For the system to function coherently, and for wider commercial relationships to be sustained with any degree of integrity, it is essential that employees are duty-bound to act in good faith,” the Judicial Commissioner wrote. He added that the defendants had “quietly facilitated client migration in anticipation of profiting from future roles elsewhere.”
The court examined evidence, including emails forwarded to personal accounts containing confidential pricing data, which the judgment stated allowed LK Re to undercut Guy Carpenter’s terms.
Choi, a former senior vice-president of Guy Carpenter’s Korea desk, and Lee, a broker, were found to have assisted in setting up LK Re’s operations prior to their official departure.
Timeline of events
The judgment highlighted specific actions taken during the employees’ tenure at Guy Carpenter. The court found that Lee sent sensitive files regarding the new facility’s setup to Choi in late 2021.
Additionally, Choi was found to have drafted residency appeals for Lee in her capacity as his future superior at LK Re, while she was still serving her notice period at Guy Carpenter.
Dismissing the claim that the move to LK Re was coincidental, the judge described the evidence as a “composite picture” of conspiracy. He observed that Choi’s failure to alert her employer when Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance announced the business transfer was inconsistent with her duty to Guy Carpenter.
A separate hearing will be scheduled to assess damages and legal costs.
