Austin lobbying giant HillCo is suing a couple of its former employees, the Texas Tribune reported today. While that’s hardly an earth-shaking development in a world composed almost exclusively of lawyers, it’s newsworthy simply because of the players and the alleged misdeed. HillCo is suing two former employees, Brandon Aghamalian and Snapper Carr, accusing them of stealing HillCo clients and using "HillCo’s confidential information in order to set up a new business for themselves,” according to the action filed in district court in Travis County.

The complaint is a fun-filled allegation of deception and nefarious scheming. At one point, HillCo claims the defendants asked the HillCo accounting department to hold off on sending bills to several clients so that those clients would have funds to hire the devious defendant duo’s new lobbying enterprise, Focused Advocacy.

We also notice that one of the exhibits spells out rules of conduct for working at HillCo. This includes a ban on "offensive horseplay, pranks or practical jokes" and full notice to employees that while there will be no smoking in violation of local ordinance or company rules, "employer may smoke cigars in his office during working hours."

HillCo itself is the subject of a Texas Ethics Commission complaint filed earlier this year, by Texans for Ethics and Responsibility, alleging the group violated the Texas Election Code by contributing to a legislative caucus during a prohibited time frame. State law bans contributions to lawmakers during the state legislative session.

The complaint stems from a Texas Watchdog story that noted the trouble and documented the thousands of dollars' worth of free office rent that HillCo had given to the state Mexican American Legislative Caucus and its nonprofit foundation. The rent payments amounted to an annual contribution of about $60,000. HillCo's Bill Miller said the arrangement was legal, pointing to a narrow loophole in the law that allows for rent payments in some cases, even though the law prohibits a "direct or indirect transfer of money, goods, services, or any other thing of value" to a legislative caucus during the session.

Contact Steve Miller at stevemiller@texaswatchdog.org or 832-303-9420.