Before getting sued in late December for allegedly stealing trade secrets and other confidential information from his firm, Proskauer Rose’s most recent chief operating officer, Jonathan O’Brien, was planning to work at fellow Am Law 50 firm Paul Hastings, sources with knowledge of his employment plans have confirmed.

Through a spokesperson, O’Brien’s defense attorney in the suit confirmed what Proskauer’s leaders inferred after learning of O’Brien’s plans for departure last month: their C-team colleague who allegedly downloaded more than 34 gigabytes of sensitive information was headed for a competitor.