When a jury ordered him to pay two hated ex-employees more than $90 million last year, Paul Touradji probably thought he was pretty clever to have paid himself more than $314 million over the previous seven years, leaving his namesake hedge fund with just $14,500 in the bank, according to yet another lawsuit from said two ex-employees. After all, he had sworn to never pay Gentry Beach and Robert Vollero “a dime,” and he had to live up to his word. Well, that one, and not the one in their employment agreements, anyway.
Turns out that Touradji should have had a little more faith in his lawyers, because he’s no longer on the hook for that $90 million-plus, at least for now.
A New York state appeals court on Tuesday ordered a retrial in a 2019 jury case that would have seen hedge-fund firm Touradji Capital Management pay roughly $91 million to two former employees…. The Appellate Division’s First Judicial Department, an intermediate appeals court in Manhattan, said that Mr. Touradji’s counsel should have been allowed to put forward a specific defense that the trial judge had precluded counsel from making.
Beach and Vollero’s lawyers don’t seem too worried, calling the ruling a mere “technicality.” Given Touradji’s, uh, less-than-totally-convincing turn on the stand last time, perhaps that confidence is warranted. On the other hand,
“This is not a technicality, not by any stretch,” argued Touradji lawyer Sean O’Brien. “This is a substantive ruling that vacates the ruling against my client. Before today, [Vollero and Beach] had $90 million. Today they have $0.”
By the way, today is officially the tenth anniversary of when this case first came to our attention. At this rate, Gentry Beach—who back in June offered a relieved, “you live through it, and it’s over”—will see his buddy Donald Trump Jr. crowned the second King of America before he sees a dime from Touradji.
New York Court Vacates $91 Million Payout to Former Hedge Fund Employees [WSJ]
Judge orders retrial in case against ruthless hedge fund manager [Thornton/N.Y. Post]