Music executive Russell Simmons is reportedly suing his ex-wife and entrepreneur Kimora Lee Simmons and her husband Tim Leissner for allegedly transferring and using his shares from an energy drink company to pay for Leissner’s expenses related to his court case, The Blast reported. In 2018, the former Goldman Sachs managing director pleaded guilty to a $2.7 billion money-laundering scheme out of Malaysia.
Russell is alleging that his shares of the vegan sparkling energy drink Celsius were being used as collateral to pay a bond in connection to the charges filed against Leissner, The Blast claims. According to court documents supposedly obtained by the blog site, the Def Jam Recordings co-founder said that the three of them invested large sums of money into the beverage company.
However, it was later brought to his attention that shares somehow had been transferred to Leissner and his ex-wife, the report continues. In the filings supposedly seen by the outlet, Russell claimed that the couple “conspired with each other, aided and abetted each other and together engaged in fraud by causing an unlawful conversion and fraudulent transfer.” Russell reportedly is asking a judge for damages against Kimora and Leissner and believes he should be awarded interest restitution and equal value for the ill-gotten actions.
The businessman stated in the lawsuit that he knew Leissner would need $44 million to stay out of jail, which subsequently led to the alleged illegal transfers of the shares.
The Blast and The Source cite from letters supposedly written by Russell, ones they say he sent to the former supermodel on May 5, asking her to return the shares so that they could “get the important family matter of the Celsius shares to a close so that we can put it behind us and carry on as the loving, united front we have always been.” In a letter reportedly written to Kimora, Russell wrote, “I am shocked and saddened to see how your side has behaved in response to my repeated attempts to get an agreement from you to rightfully and legally reaffirm my 50% of the Celsius shares… which have been locked up with the government after being used for your husband’s bail money.”
Russell and Kimora had often been celebrated for successfully co-parenting their blended families. The former couple met in November of 1992. They married six years later in December 1998 on the island of Saint Barthélemy. However, in March 2006, the pair called it quits. They share two daughters, 21-year-old Ming Lee and 18-year-old Aoki Lee Simmons.
