Billionaire Marc Lasry claims in a new lawsuit that a former employee is trying to extort him for $50 million. Here are the most eye-catching excerpts.

• Avenue Capital laminitis Marc Lasry is suing his erstwhile worker Gina Strum successful New York authorities court.
• The suit alleges that Strum was demanding $50 cardinal from Lasry aliases she threatened to make things "really, really, ugly."
• Strum's lawyer calls nan suit 'blatantly fabricated and retaliatory.'

Billionaire Avenue Capital laminitis Marc Lasry typically spends this portion of nan twelvemonth focused connected his firm's yearly investor conference, which will beryllium held Thursday.

But this year, Lasry's attraction has been partially consumed by a long-simmering conflict betwixt his patient and a erstwhile employee, which has go nationalist courtesy of a suit Lasry, his firm, and his sister and cofounder Sonia Gardner revenge Friday successful New York authorities court.

In nan suit, Lasry, nan erstwhile proprietor of nan NBA's Milwaukee Bucks and a longtime Democratic megadonor, alleges that his erstwhile employee, Gina Strum, was trying to extort him for $50 million. Strum, who has antecedently received a severance package from nan patient arsenic good arsenic a $750,000 consulting contract, promised to make things "really, really, ugly" for Lasry and Avenue if she didn't person nan eight-figure payout.

Avenue said successful nan suit that Strum, who worked for Avenue from 2009 to 2013, threatened to writer Lasry, dispersed mendacious rumors astir Lasry's sister's wellness to third-party consultants pinch connections to Avenue, and admitted to being "crazy" pinch her communications to nan billionaire.

"Ms. Strum, a erstwhile Avenue worker who departed nan patient successful 2013, has many times threatened to smear nan reputations of Mr. Lasry, Avenue, and Ms. Gardner, pinch nan stated and malicious intent to destruct their business. This suit intends to bring that to an end," a connection from an Avenue spokesperson reads.

Strum's attorney, Daniel Kaiser, told Bloomberg that nan suit is "blatantly fabricated and retaliatory, a continuation of his effort to power and harass Ms. Strum." Kaiser and Strum did not instantly return requests for comment.

Business Insider reviewed nan 22-page filing and identified nan astir melodramatic allegations:

1. Strum's messages to Lasry complete nan years "often inappropriately veered towards nan personal, obsessive, and simply inappropriate," according to nan lawsuit.

Lasry's suit states that Strum sent a selfie aft a haircut wearing a "tight, low-cut vessel top" and pictures of her thorax successful a tight garment arsenic she modeled caller necklaces she bought for an upcoming party. The suit states that Lasry rebuffed Strum's advances, but that did not extremity nan travel of texts.

Examples see messages specified as:

• "Did you hide astir me? My life doesn't really activity without you. Stop punishing me."
• "You are a lovebug to me."
• "I emotion you. I'm going to effort to clasp successful nan crazy."
• "Black and navy are your colors. I retrieve nan first clip I met you . . . You were successful a achromatic turtleneck. I started sweating."
• "def lonely and flirting pinch you. I dream you are good pinch that."

2. Strum dispersed rumors astir Gardner's health

Gardner had a mini tumor removed from her lung successful May 2022, according to nan lawsuit. The cognition was successful, and nary further curen was needed, nan suit states, but Strum utilized nan process to "blackmail" Avenue.

"Ms. Strum wrongly asserted that Ms. Gardner's 2022 room should person been disclosed to Avenue's investors, because according to Ms. Strum, Ms. Gardner was successful mediocre wellness and had not been moving for nan past 2 years," nan suit reads.

Gardner, nan suit states, returned to Avenue wrong weeks of her 2022 operation.

"Ms. Strum vindictively provided these blatantly mendacious statements astir Ms. Gardner to 3rd parties aft she was again explicitly told by Mr. Lasry that 'She's fine.'"

3. Strum was capable to get respective payouts from Avenue complete nan past decade

While Strum's request for $50 cardinal did not activity out, she was paid respective times by Avenue to "mollify" her.

When she near nan patient successful 2013, nan suit states that she was fixed "a severance package aft she threatened to make mendacious accusations astir Avenue, and Avenue wished it was successful its champion liking to salary Ms. Strum — and work together to activity pinch her successful nan early arsenic a advisor if she could not find gainful employment — alternatively than look undue fallout from a nationalist study of mendacious accusations."

The suit declines to opportunity really overmuch nan package was, but Strum was later fixed $750,000 complete 2 years arsenic a portion of a consulting arrangement.

What pushed Strum to inquire for $50 cardinal and frighten to "spread mendacious and defamatory stories to destruct Mr. Lasry and Avenue and record a lawsuit" was nan rejection of a business connection Strum brought to nan patient successful 2023 which coincided pinch nan past payout of nan $750,000 arrangement.

"When Ms. Strum received nan attraction and nan money she sought, she routinely complimented Plaintiffs," nan suit states.

But erstwhile she "did not get her measurement — aliases erstwhile she thought she was not getting capable attraction to beforehand arsenic she had hoped — she became erratic and abusive."