A choose denied Kimora Lee Simmons-Leissner and husband Tim Leissner’s newest request to strike Russell Simmon’s fraud claims.
Jun. 7 2024, Printed 8:05 p.m. ET
Kimora Lee Simmons-Leissner confronted one other blow this week in her courtroom battle with ex Russell Simmons, who sued the style mogul and her husband, Tim Leissner, alleging they fraudulently offered shares of his inventory to assist Tim keep away from jail time.
A submitting this week obtained by RadarOnline.com revealed that an appeals courtroom in Los Angeles denied Kimora and Tim’s newest request to strike the fraud claims. The couple argued the document exec’s case ought to be thrown out beneath California’s anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuit towards public participation) legal guidelines, which shield Californians from predatory lawsuits that violate their rights to free speech.
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Kimora’s husband, Tim, was convicted in Malaysian wealth fund 1MDB’s embezzlement scheme in 2018.
Tim and Kimora argued that Russell’s criticism included “combined causes of motion,” that means his claims stemmed from each protected and unprotected exercise. Their argument pertained to letters written by Kimora and Tim — included in Russell’s criticism — concerning the switch of the shares and Tim’s involvement in Malaysian wealth fund 1MDB’s corruption scandal.
The previous Goldman Sachs funding banker pleaded responsible to federal international bribery and cash laundering conspiracy prices in November 2018 and agreed to pay again $44 million {dollars} to keep away from jail time.
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Kimora and Russell have been married from 1998 to 2009.
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Russell, who was married to Kimora from 1998 to 2009, claimed that in Might 2018, Kimora and Tim, “understanding full nicely that [Tim] would want tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} to keep away from jail time, keep out on bail and forfeit monies for sufferer compensation,” allegedly unlawfully took 4 million shares of his inventory within the power drink firm Celsius to pay Tim’s authorized charges.
The Child Phat founder filed the lawsuit in 2021, alleging that greater than $200 million was disbursed to Tim and one other alleged co-conspirator within the 1MDB scheme. His criticism included two letters purportedly penned by Kimora and Tim, which Russell claimed have been a part of a “cover-up” by the couple, who allegedly tried to “create a brand new spin for the conspiracy and fraud that they had effectuated.”
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The document exec filed the lawsuit towards Kimora and Tim in 2021.
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The letters — dated June 26, 2018, and February 5, 2020 — listed the switch of the shares as non permanent loans to cowl Tim’s bond, licensed by Tim as a supervisor of Russell’s funding firm, Nu Horizons. Russell, nonetheless, claimed the letters “don’t mirror any professional loans however quite are additional proof of [Kimora and Tim’s] fraudulent scheme.”
Kimora and Tim filed separate motions to strike the criticism beneath numerous anti-SLAPP statutes, however each motions have been denied in 2022 by a trial courtroom.
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The couple argued that Russell’s criticism ought to be thrown out for violating California’s Anti-SLAPP legal guidelines.
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The couple instantly appealed, however on Wednesday, June 5, Justice Maria Stratton moved to uphold the choice, calling the couple’s argument “a stretch.”
She wrote on behalf of the appellate courtroom, “We disagree and discover that the criticism alleges the 2 letters are merely incidental to and represent proof of the fraud claims. They don’t seem to be the bases of the causes of motion themselves. We affirm the trial courtroom’s denial of each anti-SLAPP motions.”