Quant fund Jump Trading is suing a "special" trader who left the firm to a join hedge fund in a bid to delay him taking up his new role to protect proprietary secrets that are the "lifeblood of its business", according to a report by Bloomberg.

In the UK High Court on Friday, James Laddie, a lawyer for Jump, argued that Damien Couture, who left the firm in March last year, should be blocked from taking up his new position at Verition Fund Management until April 2024, and that failure to do so would risk an "abuse of confidential information".

Attorneys for Couture and Verition meanwhile, have said in court filings that Jump, which is demanding two years of gardening leave and job restrictions for the trader, is applying the non-compete clause too widely and that it isn’t enforceable by law.

On Friday the court refused Jump’s request to immediately stop Couture from joining Verition until a trial but agreed to order an expedited trial.