Billionaire John Overdeck is set to testify in his record-breaking divorce case Tuesday — but his estranged wife was barred from taking the stand after a judge ruled she resorted to dirty tactics, like hacking his computer and deleting evidence.
New Jersey Family Court Judge Bruce Buechler determined that Laura Overdeck “engaged in multiple discovery abuses,” according to a transcript of a prior hearing, citing several examples of domestic espionage and evidence destruction.
Those included illicitly accessing her husband’s private computer to take photos of emails he exchanged with his lawyers, breaking into his post office box and deleting evidence from her phone, the judge said.
Laura Overdeck is seeking $6.2 billion from her hedge fund manager husband John Overdeck in their divorce. Getty Images for Bloomberg
It means Overdeck will be unable to testify or call expert witnesses in what her attorney has dubbed the Garden State’s most expensive contested divorce.
That could throw a wrench in her attempt to claim a 35% stake in hubby John Overdeck’s $80 billion hedge fund Two Sigma, which her attorneys estimate amounts to a whopping $6.2 billion.
The judge found in April that Laura Overdeck had snapped pics on her cell of her spouse’s emails discussing legal strategy — and then failed to produce the phone, according to the transcript.
Despite court orders, she didn’t turn over the phone “until at least 13 months later” — and the images had been deleted, with Overdeck claiming the device was running out of memory, according to Buechler.
“Whether Ms. Overdeck did it maliciously or accidentally is not relevant,” Buechler said. ”There’s a cumulative effect here.”
The ruling also found that Overdeck had convinced the post office to provide her with an extra key to her estranged husband’s private P.O. box “so she could access the mail in that box” — but she refused to say what she took or to return it.
The April decision means that Laura Overdeck will be unable to testify at all in what’s being called New Jersey’s most expensive divorce case in history. Getty Images
Buechler opted to dismiss Overdeck’s divorce complaint — calling it the “ultimate sanction” — severely limiting her options in the Newark courtroom, where the hedge fund honcho was expected to take the stand.
Grilling him on cross-examination will be the main way for her to make her case, as a result of her “multiple discovery abuses,” according to the ruling.
She’ll be legally barred from presenting a single shred of affirmative evidence, testifying in support of her claim or calling her own high-priced valuation experts to the stand.
But Buechler made clear that “the assets need to be equitably distributed,” meaning that the Overdeck fortune will still need splitting up.
A judge ruled that Laura Overdeck illegally hacked her hubby’s email and a post office box belonging to him, and then deleted evidence she was ordered to hand over. AP
At issue is whether Overdeck can claim her husband’s stake in Two Sigma as a marital asset.
But John Overdeck’s lawyers argue the Manhattan-based investment firm was founded two years before the couple’s 2002 nuptials.
On the first day of testimony last week, Laura Overdeck’s lawyer Theresa Lyons revealed that she previously rejected a paltry offer of $633 million to settle the matter, according to Bloomberg.
The financier’s attorney, Jonathan Wolfe, said it was actually a $723 million tax-free equitable distribution. He also denied the $6.2 billion figure, saying that a 35% piece of John Overdeck’s company shares amounted to $4.9 billion.
Laura Overdeck is also suing the law firm responsible for the family’s estate planning, claiming that they secretly helped “divorce-proof” her husband’s assets while they were allegedly also representing her.
Her legal team is appealing Buechler’s ruling, and that process is ongoing. They declined to comment Monday.
