Previous job dismissal with NDA: disclose or not disclose to CFA institute?

Short version: should I disclose the circumstances of my dismissal from my last job in the professional conduct section of the exam application if I signed a non-disclosure/non-disparagement agreement with my previous employer when I left? I'm concerned that if I disclose to the CFAI, they will contact my previous employer to get their side of the story, which would reveal that I had violated the terms of my NDA and my previous employer could hold me liable for my severance pay plus interest. However, I'm also worried that if I don't disclose the allegations made against (even though in my eyes I'm not guilty of any code violation), the fact that I withheld the situation from them could be held against me in the future by the CFAI.

In a nutshell, I was working at a financial services firm, had been put on formal written notice shortly before my dismissal, and the allegations in this notice were in large part performance related (eg poor time management, etc). My job didn't directly involve handling securities in any way, and I wasn't accused of anything like fraud/embezzlement/mishandling of client information. My employer then tried to have my dismissal classified as a firing in order to deny me unemployment benefits, so I explained the situation in an appeal to the state labor department, and ultimately won the appeal as my employer didn't provide sufficient evidence. These are the key details, but I can provide more if you want.

 

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