Miyoko’s Creamery In The Middle Of Fierce Legal Battle With Its Former CEO And Founder

In June of 2022, Miyoko Schinner — founder of the alternative cheese company Miyoko’s Creamery — was relieved of her duties as CEO after the Board of Directors voted unanimously for her dismissal. Did the former CEO go quietly? Apparently not.

According to Nosh, in an effort to salvage company data and resources, Schinner allegedly downloaded over 24,000 confidential company files between the time of her dismissal and her eventual exit from the company in July of 2022. After repeated attempts to get Schinner to turn in her work laptops, Schinner is accused of proceeding to backup her multiple work laptops into a digital cloud under the title “Miyoko’s Creamery Files.” The complaint further states that in August of 2022, Schinner was caught on security cameras removing physical company property and saving files from every computer, which included some of the company’s cheese culture configurations. These confidential configurations are the secret recipe that help to create Miyoko’s signature alt-cheese products.

Other documents allegedly show tensions stemming all the way back to 2018 between Schinner and the Board of Directors. While Schinner has yet to comment on the alleged stolen documents, she has made public posts to acknowledge the case against her. Last week, Schinner turned to LinkedIn to comment on the issues at hand: “I am shocked that certain board members have decided to file a lawsuit against me. There are wild untruths about me that are designed to destroy me and get me out of the way. I have been cooperative with the Company since my termination.”

One of the most notable allegations against the former CEO stems from a signed promissory note which showed Schinner borrowing $112,500 from the company with the repayment of the principal plus accrued interest due 60 days after her termination of employment. However, upon the 60th day, the repayment was nowhere to be found, meaning Schinner is now technically in default.

“I want to let you know that I am not being silent, but searching for the right time to tell my story,” Schinner posted just four days ago to LinkedIn. A preliminary case management conference is scheduled for May 17.