Jefferies is suing a rival bank for stealing its investment bankers in London

Getty Images/ Rob Kim

Rich Handler, Jefferies CEO

• Investment bank Jefferies is suing rival Cantor Fitzgerald in London after some of its bankers left for the brokerage.
• The bankers were reportedly lured to Cantor by Sage Kelly, a former star healthcare banker at Jefferies who left the firm amid a messy divorce in 2014.

Investment bank Jefferies is suing a rival bank for poaching a group of star dealmakers.

The New York-based bank last month filed a lawsuit in London and named Cantor Fitzgerald's global and Hong Kong operations as defendants, along with three bankers in its power, energy, and infrastructure group, Bloomberg reported. Jefferies lost 24 employees in the firm's energy coverage group to Cantor.

Among the bankers named is Carlos Candil, now a managing director at Cantor.

The bankers were lured by Sage Kelly, a former star healthcare banker at Jefferies who stepped down from the firm in December 2014 amid a messy divorce, the report said. He later returned to Wall Street to head up Cantor's investment-banking division.

Representatives for Jefferies and Cantor were not immediately available for comment.

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