Reuters reported that American International Group (AIG) has sued Steven Udvar-Hazy, the co-founder and former chief executive of International Lease Finance Corp (ILFC), its aircraft-leasing unit, accusing him and other former employees of stealing several thousand electronic files containing trade secrets.

Hazy resigned to run Air Lease Corp (ALC) in February 2010, which he also started before leaving ILFC.

According to the report, AIG filed the civil lawsuit in the California Superior Court in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The lawsuit said Hazy and other former ILFC executives downloaded its files and "loaded en masse onto ALC's servers" confidential information.

The report indicates that AIG is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars or potentially more from Air Lease Corp. The lawsuit also said there are thirty people involved in the alleged theft besides Hazy.

The Reuters report quotes an ALC statement stating, "Unable to compete effectively and perceiving Air Lease as a growing threat, AIG/ILFC has now resorted to a baseless trade secrets lawsuit that Air Lease will vigorously contest and defeat.”