Intimate text messages exchanged between an ousted CFO of Royal Bank of Canada and her junior colleague have emerged amid the latest round of legal disputes over the secret office affair. RBC, Canada’s largest bank, fired Nadine Ahn in April after finding out an alleged decade-long romantic relationship with her junior colleague, Ken Mason.
Reports suggest that Mason received promotions and raises as a result of their affair. In response, Ahn, 53, filed a $50 million wrongful dismissal lawsuit earlier this month. However, the bank countered on Friday with a claim for $4.5 million, alleging that this amount was paid to Mason as ‘excess compensation,’ according to a Bloomberg report.
An Affair and Two Lawsuits
The most recent lawsuit has exposed text messages between Ahn and Mason, including romantic poetry and fantasies about a future together, such as reading in bed. According to the bank, they also used pet names for each other—’Prickly Pear’ for Ahn and ‘KD’ for Mason.
Mason, who has also filed a $20 million wrongful termination suit, denies having a close relationship with Ahn, despite the bank’s claims.
The bank alleges that Ahn started a personal relationship with Mason, an executive in the bank’s corporate treasury group, as early as 2013, and that their relationship continued until her departure earlier this year.
“Ms. Ahn forwarded romantic poetry to Mr. Mason, expressing that she had fallen in love with Mr. Mason when she first saw him,’ according to the lawsuit filed with the Ontario Court of Justice.
“Ms. Ahn and Mr. Mason continued to regularly see each other outside of the office during this time period, arranging a lunch on August 18, 2017 to celebrate their ‘fourth anniversary.”
The bank also cites instances of “intimate communications” between Ahn and Mason. For example, on March 11, 2019, Ahn texted Mason saying, “I love you,” to which Mason quickly replied, “I love you too,” according to the filing.
Misusing Power and Position
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After Ahn was promoted to CFO in 2021, RBC accuses her of leveraging her new role to arrange promotions and salary increases for Mason, an effort he allegedly called ‘Project Ken.’
The bank claims that her actions resulted in Mason receiving a 58 percent rise in compensation over the two fiscal years following her promotion and that she promoted him to vice president and head of capital and term funding in 2023.
Ahn is also accused of disclosing confidential information to Mason, including a draft of a speech meant for CEO Dave McKay.
The bank claims that they used calendar invites to schedule “liquidity meetings,” which was a coded term for cocktail gatherings. During one such meeting, they took notes on a coaster at Canoe, an upscale restaurant in Toronto’s financial district, covering topics like drink orders and social plans such as “concert, night out, winery.”
Mason reportedly encased the coaster in plexiglass and displayed it in his office, according to RBC.
The messages were obtained from the bank’s internal messaging systems, which Ahn and Mason frequently used along with their personal devices.
RBC began an investigation following an anonymous whistleblower’s tip about the intimate relationship between Ahn and Mason.
Lawyers for Ahn and Mason have not yet responded to inquiries about the countersuit.
