Shoeb Ansari, chief information officer for PR Newswire at the center of a $25M lawsuit against PRN by rival Marketwire, shot down in a court filing MW claims that he violated a separation agreement and solicited former MW staff to get proprietary information on behalf of his current employer.

MW sued PRN in New York Supreme Court in late October, claiming Ansari violated a non-compete agreement after being fired in 2010. It also claims he recruited three MW staffers who were hired at PRN and led a campaign to "induce" them to provide proprietary information about MW. PRN says the suit has not merit.

"Neither PR Newswire nor I have any use or need for any proprietary information or trade secrets Marketwire may possess," Ansari said in the filing (PDF).

Ansari, who says his non-compete agreement expired before he joined PRN, says he spoke to three former MW staffers prior to their hiring at PRN, but denies MW's claim that he induced them to leave, adding "each of these individuals had expressed dissatisfaction with Marketwire and a desire to obtain work opportunities elsewhere."

Ansari also denies providing PRN with any proprietary information about his former employer, noting PRN's systems for dissemination, content management and workflow were in place before he arrived.