Gundlach to take the stand in trial vs. TCW Group

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Star L.A. bond fund manager Jeffrey Gundlach was expected to be called to testify Thursday for the first time in the high-stakes court battle with his former employer, money management giant TCW Group.

Since the civil trial began July 28 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the jury has heard plenty about Gundlach’s personality. Lawyers for TCW, which fired Gundlach in December 2009, have described him as arrogant, greedy, disrespectful and bent on destroying the company.

Gundlach’s lawyers, in turn, have told the jury that TCW orchestrated a campaign to oust him so it could keep for itself the fees on tens of billions of dollars in client assets he drew to the firm because of his stellar track record in the bond market.

Gundlach launched his own firm, DoubleLine Capital, 10 days after he was fired by TCW. He was quickly joined by most of his team members at TCW, and has attracted $13 billion from investors in just 19 months.

TCW, which manages about $120 billion, sued Gundlach in January 2010, alleging that he and key aides conspired to steal massive amounts of TCW proprietary information to set up DoubleLine.

Gundlach, 51, has denied TCW’s allegations and has countersued. He accuses TCW and its parent firm, the French bank Societe Generale, of firing him after 24 years at the firm to cheat him out of a huge chunk of promised income.

Each side is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages from the other.

Gundlach, who has unabashedly referred to himself as “amazingly brilliant analytically,” has become a well-known figure on Wall Street because of his expertise investing in complex mortgage-backed securities. Barron’s magazine this year dubbed him ‘king of bonds.’

After everything the jury has heard about Gundlach, his demeanor on the stand could be critical in shaping their views of the case.

Over the last week the jury heard testimony from three of Gundlach’s lieutenants at DoubleLine who also are co-defendants in the case: Barbara VanEvery, Cris Santa Ana and Jeffrey Mayberry.

-- Tom Petruno

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