Former Avenue Capital employee in a legal fight with billionaire boss Marc Lasry claims she was offered $5 million to 'settle without an attorney'
Aurelien Meunier/Getty
- A former Avenue Capital fundraiser claims Marc Lasry offered her a $5 million settlement in May.
- Earlier this month, Lasry filed a lawsuit against Gina Strum, claiming she was trying to extort $50 million.
- A statement from Lasry claims the latest filings are a publicity stunt for her "malicious threats."
Billionaire Avenue Capital cofounder Marc Lasry offered a former female employee who accused him of years of sexual harassment a $5 million settlement in May, according to new legal filings from Gina Strum's lawyers.
Strum, a former fundraiser for Avenue who was accused in a civil lawsuit of blackmailing Lasry and Avenue for $50 million, said in her latest legal filings that Lasry wanted to "settle without an attorney" after being presented with the evidence that eventually was put into a lawsuit she filed last week.
Strum's lawyers filed a motion to dismiss Lasry's original lawsuit, which he filed on October 18. The motion was filed with a memo that included texts between the parties as exhibits to demonstrate how Lasry was pushing Strum not to bring lawyers into their back-and-forth.
"Plaintiff Lasry went as far as to offer to pay the Defendant's attorneys' fees and the cost of mediation in exchange for the Defendant refraining from filing a lawsuit exposing Plaintiff Lasry's egregious abuse," the filing, which was filed Tuesday in New York state court, reads.
A statement from Lasry said that Strum "is seeking to generate publicity in continuation of her malicious threats." The statement also said that Avenue "will litigate these matters in the judicial forum and not in the media."
It's the latest development in an explosive fight between the well-known Lasry, the former co-owner of the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks and a megadonor to Democratic campaigns, and his former employee.
Lasry and Avenue first filed a lawsuit against Strum, claiming that she was trying to extort $50 million from the firm to stop her from making things "really ugly" for it. The suit included texts and emails from Strum that Lasry's legal team said demonstrated Strum's obsession with her billionaire boss.
One message included reads: "Did you forget about me? My life doesn't really work without you. Stop punishing me."
Days after Lasry filed his suit, Strum responded with her own lawsuit, claiming years of sexual harassment and unwanted touching from Lasry. There was no mention of the $5 million offer in her suit, though CK Hoffler, a lawyer for Strum, said, "It was important to set the record straight on the evidence in this case surrounding Marc Lasry's offer to Gina Strum."
"He offered that money in an effort to control the process and ensure her silence," Hoffler said in a statement.