Benchmark Mortgage is suing two of its former top employees for a scheme in which they allegedly shared sensitive companywide financial information with competitors.

The complaint filed last week in Texas Business Court accuses Marty Preston and Denise Donoghue of violating state law in misappropriating trade secrets. A hearing for a temporary injunction to bar the defendants from sharing or using the information they allegedly stole is scheduled for next week, according to the docket.

The case was first reported by The Mortgage Scoop. 

The Plano, Texas-based lender accuses Preston, its national business development director, of encouraging Donoghue, a branch manager, to use the confidential financials in a negotiation. Donoghue allegedly confronted Benchmark executives this month with a slide deck comparing her income to what the company makes on her loans, and threatened to leave unless the lender agreed to her new terms. 

Benchmark also says Donoghue claimed to have shown their financials to competitors while shopping her deal. The suit does not mention if the lender confirmed whether other companies saw the information, or who those rivals potentially were. 

"A competitor armed with those figures would have a roadmap to Benchmark's pricing, margins, recruiting posture and operating assumptions," the suit read. 

Donoghue, whose business is The Mortgage Nerd Group, has since departed to Absolute Mortgage & Lending, according to the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System. It's unclear if Preston remains with Benchmark, although his company biography has been removed and the lender said in the complaint it was in the process of firing the pair. 

Both defendants denied the allegations in statements to National Mortgage News Tuesday. 

"Mr. Preston denies the allegations in the lawsuit in full and is preparing strong counterclaims in response," wrote attorney Karthik Srinivasan of Vela Wood, his attorney. 

Representing Donoghue, attorney Leiza Dolghih of Dolghih Law Group said in an email the lender secured a restraining order against her client without notice, denying her due process. 

"She will affirmatively demonstrate that she has engaged in no wrongdoing," wrote Dolghih in an email.

Neither Benchmark nor its attorneys responded to requests for comment. 

Preston's rise

Preston was a 16-year veteran at Benchmark and from 2022 was tasked with recruiting, during which he onboarded Donoghue, according to the lawsuit. He demanded a larger role in 2024, and the company said it let him be the retail division president during a transition phase. 

He later requested access to financials for the company's builder and wholesale arms, and Benchmark co-founder Stewart Hunter said he granted the demand despite some internal hesitancy. In a declaration, Hunter wrote that Preston refused to sign a written agreement for his new role, and that his tenure was unsuccessful. 

The ill-fated meeting

Donoghue requested a meeting with executives, and on March 18 presented the slide deck, with Preston in attendance. The presentation included precise profit and loss information for 23 other branches, information Donoghue couldn't have obtained herself, Hunter wrote.

Preston remained silent during the meeting, the suit claims, and afterward allegedly tried to mend the rift by telling executives they could retain Donoghue if they met two of her demands. 

The company later reviewed the defendants' emails, which showed the defendants discussing Donoghue's ultimatum weeks in advance. The lender is seeking over $1 million in damages. 

Benchmark counts 266 sponsored mortgage loan originators and 69 branches in NMLS records. It surpassed $5 billion in loan volume in 2024, according to the latest Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data available from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.