Chicago broker Edge Logistics says its expedited-freight division shrank 66.4% within weeks of four employees leaving for rival Freight Tec Management Group — even as the rest of its business grew 8.5%.

That gap sits at the center of a 51-page federal complaint filed Sept. 30 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Edge sued Bountiful, Utah-based Freight Tec, the four former employees — Nicholas Daglas, John Harlan, Andre Apiquian and Alexis Hersh — and three LLCs it says were built to run as Freight Tec brokerage agents: Parlay Expedited, Thorndale Logistics and Freight Redefined.

The alleged mechanism: while still on Edge's payroll, the four set up competing companies, accessed confidential customer data — rates, pricing strategies, lanes, preferences — and lined up Freight Tec to absorb the accounts. The complaint says Freight Tec's leadership knew the employees were bound by restrictive employment agreements and reviewed those agreements before engaging them. Edge claims Freight Tec's CEO met Daglas three to five times before the departures to discuss the paperwork and legality of the planned arrangement.

Defense counsel Todd Rowden, of Taft Stettinius & Hollister, pushed back. "My clients dispute plaintiff's allegations, and the legal sufficiency of its claims, and have no further comment regarding the complaint," he said in an emailed statement. Freight Tec offered no substantive response before publication.

How the alleged transfer worked

The timeline in the complaint is tight. Three LLCs were registered in April, all while their owners still worked at Edge:

• Apiquian registered Freight Redefined LLC in Florida on April 20.
• Harlan registered Thorndale Logistics LLC in Illinois on April 22.
• Daglas registered Parlay Expedited LLC in Illinois on April 23.

The employees then staggered their resignations, Edge alleges, to hide the coordination. Daglas quit May 8, saying he was leaving freight for family reasons. Harlan told colleagues he was heading to a friend's business in Las Vegas. Apiquian said he wanted a local, office-based job.

The email evidence may matter most. On May 9 — while Daglas and Hersh still drew Edge paychecks — a Freight Tec email account dedicated to an Edge customer identified as Customer A appeared in a shipment thread. On May 14, a second Freight Tec account, for Customer B, surfaced in a rate-request thread involving Daglas and Harlan's Edge addresses.

Then the freight moved. On June 28-29, Apiquian allegedly arranged an expedited shipment for Customer B through Freight Tec and Freight Redefined, calling himself Freight Tec's key accounts manager; Hersh, listed as a strategic account manager, coordinated delivery and confirmed the final rate. On Aug. 18, Customer A asked Apiquian for a quote at his Freight Tec address — with an Edge address still copied. He allegedly replied with a rate. Edge also says load-board postings for its former lanes carried Freight Tec addresses tied to Daglas and Harlan.

What does this change for brokers?

For a 120-employee shop like Edge, founded in 2014, losing an entire expedited desk straight to a competitor is an existential hit, not a rounding error. The case also tests how much protection confidentiality, noncompete and nonsolicitation clauses actually give brokers in an industry where customer relationships walk out the door nightly.

Edge's 11 counts include breach of contract, breach of duty of loyalty, tortious interference, civil conspiracy and unfair competition. It wants an injunction, return of confidential documents, forensic imaging of devices, damages, disgorgement of profits and fees. No dollar figure is specified.

The kickback allegation

The complaint's sharpest claim involves Customer C. Around April 2026, Edge alleges, an East Coast contact at that customer learned of the planned Freight Tec operation and agreed to steer freight to it — but demanded kickbacks financed by padding freight charges. The complaint doesn't name Customer C, quantify the payments or attach invoices. None of the allegations has been proven.

Defense lawyers for Daglas and Harlan have already challenged the enforceability of the employment agreements, arguing they lacked sufficient consideration. Daglas' contract contains an arbitration clause; Edge is pursuing injunctive relief against him in federal court and says it will take monetary claims to arbitration.

The defendants waived formal service on Oct. 6. Their responses are due Dec. 1, with an initial status hearing set for Dec. 2 in Chicago. How the court treats those restrictive covenants will signal how defensible broker customer books really are.