Suffolk Legis. William Lindsay III sued in 2012 for alleged theft of confidential information
Suffolk County Legis. William Lindsay III (D-Bohemia). Credit: Barry Sloan
Suffolk County Legis. William Lindsay III was sued by a former employer in 2012 for allegedly stealing confidential information, court records show.
In a ruling in 2013, state Supreme Court Justice Emily Pines said Lindsay took a "tremendous amount of information" on his last day at Kinloch Consulting Group LLC, a Melville insurance brokerage firm. But Pines said, "much of the information probably isn't very confidential."
Pines ruled Lindsay could not solicit Kinloch clients for his insurance company for two years.
Lindsay (D-Bohemia), first elected in 2013, called the lawsuit frivolous and said it is common in the insurance industry to prevent clients from following employees who leave.
"It was a business dispute that's been settled," Lindsay said.
The campaign of Republican Anthony Piccirillo, who is challenging Lindsay on Nov. 5, provided Newsday with a copy of the lawsuit. Newsday then obtained the court documents independently.
Other court documents provided by Suffolk Democrats — and confirmed independently by Newsday — showed Piccirillo was arrested for allegedly helping to run illegal poker games in 2011.
Piccirillo pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, a noncriminal violation, in 2014 but did not pay a $250 fine until last Wednesday after he was contacted by Newsday, the records show.
"I will let the voters decide which is the worse offense … playing in a small poker game or stealing confidential files from your employer?" Piccirillo said in a statement.
Rachelle Blidner covers Suffolk County government, politics and breaking news.
