Divorces can be messy, especially in Hollywood, and it appears that Russell Simmons and his ex-wife Kimora Lee Simmons are heading to court to settle a dispute. Russell claims that Kimora and her husband Tim Leissner have defrauded him out of shares of his energy drink company, and alleges that the couple conspired to do so in an effort to produce collateral for Leissner's bail. WBLS reports that; "In 2018, Leissner pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and conspiracy to commit money laundering." Given the fact that the shares were taken without his knowledge or consent, Simmons is suing his ex-wife and is also requesting damages and restitution on top of interest he feels he is owed, as well.
When things soured between Russell and Kimora, they went their separate ways, but what Russell hadn't realized is that some of the shares of his energy drink were swindled by Kimora in the process.
He's prepared to take serious action against the mother of his daughters, accusing her of fraud. Russell claims his ex wife and her new husband conspired with each other then aided and abetted, which led to the fraudulent transfer of the stocks.
The stocks in question were initially purchased by Russell and Kimora when they were married, many years ago, during which time he said he forked over millions as part of a long term investment plan. He had no idea she would go behind his back and steal from him, and was shocked when he began discovering the truth.
Russell claims that the he began to become suspicious when there was what he referred to as a " substantial unexplained change" in his shares. Further investigation on his part led him to realize she was moving his shares around for the benefit of her new husband, who was in dire need of expensive legal help.
Yahoo News reports that Russell believes his ex-wife “knew full well that Leissner would need tens of millions of dollars [$44M] to avoid jail time, stay out on bail, and forfeit monies for victim compensation," but he was stunned that she would go to such lengths to defraud him in the process.
The idea that she would do such a thing is gravely unsettling him and he wants his shares back, with additional penalties layered into his law suit.
Russell claims the millions of dollars worth of shares had been discussed with Kimora when he discovered that she had taken them, but indicates that she was not responsive or willing to work on an amicable return of his portion of the shares.
The matter will now rest in the hands of the courts.
Sources: WBLS, Yahoo News
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