Hartbeat seeks – Kevin Hart’s company Hartbeat is seeking a restraining order and injunction against two former employees, Eric Eddings and Lesley Gwam, alleging they used confidential information to build a competing podcast business. Eddings and Gwam deny any misuse, saying
Kevin Hart’s former employees say a court attempt to stop them from working is really a move to shut down their plans—while Hartbeat argues the opposite: that confidential information was used to build a rival venture.
Hartbeat and two of Kevin’s ex-staff members are now locked in a dispute over alleged company secrets, with a restraining order at the center of the fight. The case, filed in court, ties back to how the company says two former hires gained access to sensitive material—and what happened after.
In court documents, Hartbeat says it sued Eric Eddings and Lesley Gwam in February. Eddings began working at the company in 2022, and Gwam was hired in April 2023.
Hartbeat’s claim is that the pair had access to extensive confidential and proprietary information. including financial performance data. partnership strategies. and business plans for Hartbeat’s audio and podcast division.. The company says that while the two were still employed at Hartbeat. they used that information to develop a competing podcast business.
The lawsuit also alleges that Eddings and Gwam created and circulated an investor pitch deck seeking to raise $2 million for the new venture. Hartbeat claims the deck included a line along the lines of: “We’ve built this before. Now we’re building it for ourselves.”
Hartbeat further points to a late 2025 contract dispute. The company says that one of Hartbeat’s largest podcasting clients refused to extend its contract with Hartbeat due to Eddings’ alleged mismanagement.
Hartbeat says the timing of its actions was tied directly to what it learned about the pitch deck.. The company says Eddings and Gwam were fired on January 30, 2026, the day after Hartbeat learned about the deck.. A couple of days later. Hartbeat issued a cease-and-desist demanding the duo stop using or revealing company secrets. then followed that with a lawsuit seeking an injunction to block them from doing the same.
The company says the fallout damaged its business. Hartbeat claims the alleged actions caused a “ripple effect of decreasing overall revenue in our podcast and audio division,” and as a result, Hartbeat was forced to downsize the division.
Eddings and Gwam respond sharply, arguing the request for an injunction is meritless. In their own legal filings, they say the move is “utterly lacking in merit” and amounts to a “poorly-veiled attempt to prevent” them from working.
They also deny Hartbeat’s core allegation that they misappropriated confidential information. Their filings say there is no evidence they used or took any company secrets.
The duo say their pitch deck relied on standard industry information—not Hartbeat material. They argue that Hartbeat is wrongly trying to stop their new business.
Eddings points to his career path as part of that argument, saying he worked at Sirius XM—a larger company than Hartbeat—before taking the job at Kevin’s company. Gwam says she also had substantial prior experience.
In their legal response, Eddings and Gwam say they started working on their company while still employed at Hartbeat, but they claim they never sought investors or began creating show concepts during that time. They also say they have not launched the company yet.
They connect that delay to the lawsuit itself, saying it has had a “chilling effect” on their ability to speak to investors.
The court dispute between Hartbeat and the former employees was first detailed by Bloomberg. That report said Hartbeat eliminated around 12 employees in December, including people who worked in the podcast department.
Kevin Hart Hartbeat Eric Eddings Lesley Gwam restraining order injunction podcast division investor pitch deck company secrets audio division legal battle