Billionaire chief executive and chairman Marc Lasry is suing ex-employee Gina Strum, alleging she carried on a decade-long campaign of harassment, lies, and blackmail and is now trying to illicitly siphon millions from Lasry and his firm.
The suit—filed jointly with his sister Sonia Gardner and the firm they cofounded together, Avenue Capital—lists a litany of alleged grievances against Strum, including obsessive and inappropriate texts to Lasry that he repeatedly rebuffed, even as they tried to placate her with phone calls, meetings, and emails. Lasry and Gardner alleged they suffered through it because they feared Strum would carry out her threats to take down both Lasry and the $12 billion global investment firm he built for 30 years alongside his sibling, the complaint states. For years, Strum allegedly alternated between praising the firm when she felt she was on the receiving end of attention and money, and then menacing them when that stopped.
The complaint alleges that Strum recently escalated her threats, saying she would make it “really, really ugly” for Lasry and Avenue Capital unless she was paid $50 million, and would destroy Lasry’s reputation personally. The suit also includes alleged lines from text messages and emails Strum sent to Lasry over the years that the complaint described as “personal, obsessive, and simply inappropriate.” The suit alleges Strum also sent photos and videos of herself to Lasry in low-cut tops, seeking his response.
For instance, Strum allegedly wrote: “U wonder why I love you so much.” And then, “Did you forget about me? My life doesn’t really work without you. Stop punishing me.” Plus, “You are a lovebug to me.” Also: “And one more thought- if I had to go through therapy and all this shit just to talk to you. You could at least kiss me. We would know everything then.”
The complaint alleges Strum would compliment Lasry’s appearance, including a black turtleneck that caused her to start “sweating.” She also allegedly told him he looked “cute,” and allegedly updated him when she went to be checked out for “Girly bits.”
Another alleges Strum wrote she was “def lonely and flirting with you.” The complaint states that Lasry apologized to Strum for being lonely, and said he could be a friend to her, “but it can never be more than that.”
The suit says Strum was employed by Avenue Capital from 2009 to 2013 but worked as a consultant on occasion in the years that followed. Strum’s LinkedIn lists her employment with Avenue Capital as managing director from 2009 to 2017. Avenue Capital’s specialty is distressed assets, which includes investing in real estate debt. Lasry has an estimated net worth of almost $2 billion, per Forbes. Unrelatedly, he’s a longtime democratic donor, according to campaign finance data from the Federal Election Commission.
The lawsuit states Strum’s exit from Avenue Capital came in 2013, when she was given a severance package (of an undisclosed amount) after threatening to make false accusations. The firm concluded it to be the “best interest to pay Ms. Strum,” the suit states, and it was agreed Strum could consult on future deals.
However, the lawsuit claims Strum “became erratic and abusive toward Mr. Lasry, eventually renewing her threats to harm him and Avenue.” Her alleged texts and emails, according to the lawsuit, included Strum writing that her life doesn’t work without him; that she hates when he ignores her, and that she knows she’s a pain and loves him. In others, she allegedly calls herself crazy but lovable; calls Lasry babe; tells him she misses him; says she hopes he thinks of her.
Daniel Kaiser, an attorney for Strum, told Bloomberg that Lasry’s lawsuit was “blatantly fabricated and retaliatory, a continuation of his attempt to control and harass Ms. Strum.” Kaiser and Strum did not immediately respond to Fortune’s requests for comment.
“When Ms. Strum was given attention and paid money, she withdrew her threats,” the lawsuit reads. “When she felt that she was not getting sufficient attention or her funds were depleted, she would renew her threats and malicious behavior.”
Last year, Strum allegedly wanted to consult on a deal after bringing a business proposal to the firm, but Avenue Capital countered, suggesting a different structure for the project itself. Strum then allegedly “renewed her extortionate threats, repeatedly telling Mr. Lasry in meetings, on phone calls, and in texts, that he was abusive because he would not move forward with her proposed structure, that he lied to her and gaslighted her, and that she was talking to attorneys about filing a lawsuit against him and Avenue,” according to the complaint. Strum allegedly threatened to reveal personal information about Gardner, too.
Her subsequent messages to Lasry allegedly changed: she said she was disgusted with him; that he never had any regard for her career; and that she would not be abused by him. One text allegedly read: “This is gonna be a movie – how one woman stood up to abuse and collapsed one of the biggest shops on the street,” per the lawsuit.
That’s around the time she allegedly demanded $50 million, which led to the lawsuit, it states.
A spokesperson for Avenue Capital shared the following statement with Fortune: “Ms. Strum, a former Avenue employee who departed the firm in 2013, has repeatedly threatened to smear the reputations of Mr. Lasry, Avenue, and Ms. Gardner, with the stated and malicious intent to destroy their business. This lawsuit aims to bring that to an end.”
