A feud between two of the City’s leading brokers escalated yesterday after Terry Smith, the head of Tullett Prebon, admitted discussing a rival’s private life with a Sunday newspaper.

The revelation came in a bitterly fought High Court case in which Tullett has accused BGC Partners, its rival, and Tony Verrier, a former senior executive who joined BGC this year, of conspiring to poach about 50 of its top-performing brokers.

In a counter-claim, Mr Verrier has accused Mr Smith of freezing him out of Tullett after he decided to leave. He accused Mr Smith of leaking details about his private life to The Sunday Times in an effort to embarrass him.

Mr Smith, one of the City’s most colourful figures, appeared relaxed as he gave evidence, smiling at the judge and joking with barristers. He admitted discussing Mr Verrier’s departure with a journalist but denied that he was the newspaper’s source. “I regret doing it. I was caught very much off guard,” he said.

Mr Smith said he spoke to the journalist because he feared that the newspaper might be preparing a negative article about Tullett.

Mr Smith also denied claims that he had told a public meeting last year that he planned to “bury” his former colleague and “make his life a misery”.

Tullett says that Mr Verrier violated the terms of a non-compete agreement and used his inside knowledge to conduct a smash-and-grab raid aimed at crippling its trading operations.

BGC denies the allegations and claims Tullett is pursuing the case because of a grudge by Mr Smith against Mr Verrier.

Mr Verrier, in documents filed at the High Court, says he was frozen out after announcing his intention to leave Tullett for a competitor in April 2008. He says he was denied access to information, excluded from deals he was working on and not invited to a meeting of managers in Barbados. By August, he stopped showing up for work.

Mr Verrier told Mr Smith of his intention to join BGC and says he was suspended. The article in The Sunday Times followed several days later.

After months of legal wrangling, Tullett and Mr Verrier agreed a settlement in November, under the terms of which, Mr Verrier was barred from working for BGC until January 1.

The latest legal action began after Tullett accused Mr Verrier of breaking that agreement by using his inside knowledge of its operations to recruit senior brokers to BGC.

The case continues.

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