(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Marc Lasry sued a former employee, alleging she attempted to extort him for $50 million by threatening to spread false information about the fund manager.
Gina Strum, who was a business development professional at Lasry’s Avenue Capital Group for about four years, threatened to make it “really, really, ugly” for Avenue and Lasry unless she was paid off, according to a filing in New York state court. Lasry sued alongside his firm and Sonia Gardner — his sister and Avenue’s co-founder.
Daniel Kaiser, an attorney for Strum, said that she and Lasry had been in talks over her own grievances about Lasry and that his lawsuit was “blatantly fabricated and retaliatory, a continuation of his attempt to control and harass Ms. Strum.”
Avenue said in the lawsuit it gave Strum a severance package, without disclosing the sum, in 2013 after she threatened to make false accusations about the firm, and agreed to continue working with her in a consulting capacity if she could not find other employment “rather than face undue fallout from a public report of false accusations.” Over the ensuing decade, her communications with Lasry “veered towards the personal, obsessive and simply inappropriate,” while her demands escalated, the complaint said.
“Plaintiffs suffered through Ms. Strum’s conduct because they concluded that, if they did not, she would carry out her malicious threats to damage them,” the lawsuit said. “In retrospect, the decision to engage with Ms. Strum and accede to her demands was misplaced, as Ms. Strum was unable (or unwilling) to find another job and always returned to demand work and money from Avenue.”
According to the complaint, some of her messages to Lasry included calling him a “lovebug,” asking him to kiss her, telling him she loved him and dreamed about him, and “suggestive and revealing photographs and videos” of herself. For example, she allegedly sent a video of herself in a revealing tank top to tell him she got a haircut. Lasry said in the complaint he rebuffed her efforts, never reciprocated and generally ignored her communications.
In 2019, Strum and Avenue agreed she would be paid an additional sum of $750,000 for some consulting work, the complaint said. Then, earlier this year, after Strum was paid the final installments of the arrangement, she “renewed her extortionate threats,” the complaint said.
The behavior culminated in a demand for $50 million and a threat to file a harassment lawsuit against Lasry, allegedly saying in a text message: “This is gonna be a movie - how one woman stood up to abuse and collapsed one of the biggest shops on the street.” Strum also tried to use false information about Gardner’s health to pressure Avenue to pay, the lawsuit said.
Lasry alleges her behavior caused injury to Avenue’s business relations with consultants and investors, and seeks to recover damages. The lawsuit also seeks an order requiring Strum to cease and desist her conduct and prohibiting her from further contact with plaintiffs.
The case is Avenue Capital Group v Gina Strum, New York State Supreme Court, New York County.
--With assistance from Katherine Burton.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.