Corporate espionage: Intelligence firm sued for spying on executive and his family.

A partner at international Law Firm Dechert‘s London office is suing a corporate investigation company, Diligence International, for allegedly launching a James Bond-style spying operation against him.

Neil Gerrard, co-head of the firm’s white collar crime division, who is embroiled in a legal battle with a former client, says that former intelligence officers planted cameras at his home and tried to spy on a family holiday in the Caribbean.

One investigator showed up on a private island at the same hotel as Gerrard but was intercepted by authorities apparently carrying a large amount of electronic spy equipment including a night vision camera.

LONDON (Reuters) – A London-based senior Dechert lawyer is suing an intelligence and surveillance company for up to 100,000 pounds ($123,000) in damages for spying on him and his wife over at least 10 months.

Neil Gerrard, Dechert’s global co-head of white collar and securities litigation, alleges that Diligence International staff hid video cameras on his property, followed him to work and a restaurant and attempted to track him on a family holiday to a private Caribbean island by pretending to be his nephews.

Gerrard also said that hidden cameras were trained on his home.

Diligence, which claims to be founded by former intelligence officers, offers services such as “covert surveillance and monitoring” in investigations linked to corporate disputes.