Baby Phat founder Kimora Lee Simmons has been granted more than $100K in a court battle with her record executive ex-husband Russell Simmons.
RadarOnline.com has learned the former couple and ex-business partners attended a hearing the week of Nov. 13, and “Los Angeles Superior Court judge granted a motion for attorney’s fees brought by Kimora.”
In documents obtained by RadarOnline, the court awarded Kimora attorney’s fees in the amount of $100,773.37. Russell was ordered to pay the entire amount within 30 days of the court order.
Kimora filed suit against Russell in July 2022 in response to the 65-year-old filing a lawsuit back in 2021 against Kimora and her now estranged husband, investment banker Timothy Leissner. Russell accused Kimora and Leissner of “stealing stocks he had ownership of without his permission.”
The rapper and American model along with Leissner were all involved in Nu Horizons Investment Group, which holds shares in Celsius Holdings, which makes the calorie-burning drink Celsius. Simmons alleges that his ex-wife and her estranged husband “used 4 million shares as security for posting a bond in a criminal case.”
Simmons claimed that Lee and Leissner committed fraud by stealing stocks to go to collateral for Leissner’s bond. Simmons also filed a breach of contract claim against Lee in connection with this suit, which subsequently was dismissed. Lee is recovering for her legal fees for defending the breach of contract part of the lawsuit.
In 2020, Leissner, a former Goldman Sachs banker, pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with his role in the wide-ranging 1MDB Malaysian sovereign fund international embezzlement scheme and agreed to pay $43.7 million into a compensation fund for victims
While Leissner pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay $44 million and cooperate with the prosecution to avoid jail time, Lee argued that she did not have to tell Simmons of her decision to withdraw shares because he had resigned as manager of Nu Horizons in 2018. According to Lee’s lawyer, she understood and “believed that [Leissner and Lee] were authorized to use the shares for the bond.” The court so far has sided with Lee on the breach of contract part of Simmons’ claim and awarded the model a little less than the requested amount of legal fees.
