Defamation suit filed by Sandeep Kapoor and Algo Legal against Sequoia Capital

Defamation suit filed by Sandeep Kapoor and Algo Legal against Sequoia Capital

The venture capital fund allegedly informed companies of investigations against the legal firm

Algo Legal and its founder Sandeep Kapoor have filed a defamation suit before a Bengaluru court against Sequoia Capital, Twitter and several media outlets. The move followed reports on the decision of venture capital fund Sequoia Capital to cut ties with Algo Legal.

The parties mentioned in the suit include HT Media Limited (owner of Hindustan Times and other publications), Bennett Coleman (owner of Times of India, Economic Times and others), the owners of News18, and journalists from these publications.

The matter came up for listing before the City Civil and Sessions Judge MH Annayyaanavar.

Algo Legal is a law firm founded by Sequoia's former general counsel Kapoor, who worked with the company for almost nine years till 2019.

Allegedly, Sequoia informed companies that incidents involving Algo Legal were found in a recent investigation. Kapoor had allegedly threatened some of the Sequoia companies with Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violations. Also, there were investigations by the Income Tax Department, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), and other government agencies.

Furthermore, it was alleged that Kapoor (taking advantage of his earlier position as Director Legal of Sequoia), was arm-twisting the portfolio companies to make them hire his firm or its entities for legal work.

Responding to the allegations, Kapoor stated, "Algo Legal is a law-abiding entity and has never conducted itself in contravention of any law(s). We refrain from being dragged into a trial by media and reserve our right to seek legal remedies as may be available to us to defend our reputation and seek justice."

Senior Advocate Uday Holla argued for Sandeep Kapoor and Algo Legal. They were briefed by Anupama Hebbar of Keystone Partner.