Billionaire chief government and chairman Marc Lasry is suing ex-employee Gina Strum, alleging she carried on a decade-long marketing campaign of harassment, lies, and blackmail and is now attempting to illicitly siphon thousands and thousands from Lasry and his agency.
The go well with—filed collectively together with his sister Sonia Gardner and the agency they cofounded collectively, Avenue Capital—lists a litany of alleged grievances towards Strum, together with obsessive and inappropriate texts to Lasry that he repeatedly rebuffed, at the same time as they tried to placate her with cellphone calls, conferences, and emails. Lasry and Gardner alleged they suffered by way of it as a result of they feared Strum would perform her threats to take down each Lasry and the $12 billion world funding agency he constructed for 30 years alongside his sibling, the criticism states. For years, Strum allegedly alternated between praising the agency when she felt she was on the receiving finish of consideration and cash, after which menacing them when that stopped.
The criticism alleges that Strum not too long ago escalated her threats, saying she would make it “actually, actually ugly” for Lasry and Avenue Capital until she was paid $50 million, and would destroy Lasry’s popularity personally. The go well with additionally contains alleged strains from textual content messages and emails Strum despatched to Lasry through the years that the criticism described as “private, obsessive, and easily inappropriate.” The go well with alleges Strum additionally despatched photographs and movies of herself to Lasry in low-cut tops, in search of his response.
As an illustration, Strum allegedly wrote: “U marvel why I really like you a lot.” After which, “Did you neglect about me? My life doesn’t actually work with out you. Cease punishing me.” Plus, “You’re a lovebug to me.” Additionally: “And yet one more thought- if I needed to undergo remedy and all this shit simply to speak to you. You can a minimum of kiss me. We might know every part then.”
The criticism alleges Strum would praise Lasry’s look, together with a black turtleneck that brought on her to start out “sweating.” She additionally allegedly advised him he seemed “cute,” and allegedly up to date him when she went to be checked out for “Girly bits.”
One other alleges Strum wrote she was “def lonely and flirting with you.” The criticism states that Lasry apologized to Strum for being lonely, and stated he could possibly be a pal to her, “however it may by no means be greater than that.”
The go well with says Strum was employed by Avenue Capital from 2009 to 2013 however labored as a advisor once in a while within the years that adopted. Strum’s LinkedIn lists her employment with Avenue Capital as managing director from 2009 to 2017. Avenue Capital’s specialty is distressed belongings, which incorporates investing in actual property debt. Lasry has an estimated web price of just about $2 billion, per Forbes. Unrelatedly, he’s a longtime democratic donor, in keeping with marketing campaign finance information from the Federal Election Fee.
The lawsuit states Strum’s exit from Avenue Capital got here in 2013, when she was given a severance bundle (of an undisclosed quantity) after threatening to make false accusations. The agency concluded it to be the “greatest curiosity to pay Ms. Strum,” the go well with states, and it was agreed Strum may seek the advice of on future offers.
Nonetheless, the lawsuit claims Strum “turned erratic and abusive towards Mr. Lasry, finally renewing her threats to hurt him and Avenue.” Her alleged texts and emails, in keeping with the lawsuit, included Strum writing that her life doesn’t work with out him; that she hates when he ignores her, and that she is aware of she’s a ache and loves him. In others, she allegedly calls herself loopy however lovable; calls Lasry babe; tells him she misses him; says she hopes he thinks of her.
Daniel Kaiser, an legal professional for Strum, advised Bloomberg that Lasry’s lawsuit was “blatantly fabricated and retaliatory, a continuation of his try to regulate and harass Ms. Strum.” Kaiser and Strum didn’t instantly reply to Fortune’s requests for remark.
“When Ms. Strum was given consideration and paid cash, she withdrew her threats,” the lawsuit reads. “When she felt that she was not getting enough consideration or her funds had been depleted, she would renew her threats and malicious habits.”
Final yr, Strum allegedly needed to seek the advice of on a deal after bringing a enterprise proposal to the agency, however Avenue Capital countered, suggesting a special construction for the undertaking itself. Strum then allegedly “renewed her extortionate threats, repeatedly telling Mr. Lasry in conferences, on cellphone calls, and in texts, that he was abusive as a result of he wouldn’t transfer ahead along with her proposed construction, that he lied to her and gaslighted her, and that she was speaking to attorneys about submitting a lawsuit towards him and Avenue,” in keeping with the criticism. Strum allegedly threatened to disclose private details about Gardner, too.
Her subsequent messages to Lasry allegedly modified: she stated she was disgusted with him; that he by no means had any regard for her profession; and that she wouldn’t be abused by him. One textual content allegedly learn: “That is gonna be a film – how one lady stood as much as abuse and collapsed one of many greatest retailers on the road,” per the lawsuit.
That’s across the time she allegedly demanded $50 million, which led to the lawsuit, it states.
A spokesperson for Avenue Capital shared the next assertion with Fortune: “Ms. Strum, a former Avenue worker who departed the agency in 2013, has repeatedly threatened to smear the reputations of Mr. Lasry, Avenue, and Ms. Gardner, with the said and malicious intent to destroy their enterprise. This lawsuit goals to carry that to an finish.”
