Billionaire Dan Och Slammed by Hedge Fund for ‘Mismanagement’

(Bloomberg) — The hedge fund agency previously often called Och-Ziff “deteriorated” below the “mismanagement” of its founder Daniel Och, forcing those that succeeded him to spend years stabilizing the Wall Avenue agency, the corporate stated in court docket filings.

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Och’s dealing with of a 2016 African bribery scandal involving the agency now rebranded as Sculptor Capital Administration Inc. broken the fund’s enterprise and stability sheet whereas leaving staffers reeling, attorneys stated Oct. 19 as a part of a authorized dispute over whether or not Och can get entry to the agency’s inside recordsdata.

Och, amongst Sculptor’s greatest shareholders, desires a Delaware choose to order the agency at hand over paperwork detailing its faltering efficiency and administrators’ December resolution to award Jimmy Levin, who took over as chief govt final 12 months, greater than $145 million in compensation. A trial over the data demand is scheduled to kick off Dec. 16 in Delaware Chancery Court docket.

Learn extra: Hedge Fund Founder Och Sues Sculptor Over Compensation Combat

Sculptor attorneys say Levin’s former mentor is misusing the so-called books and data request to smear him and expunge the report of Och’s conduct “by making a false narrative through which he’s the savior of the corporate and is defending it from its present administration.” Such doc calls for are sometimes made previous to the submitting of a substantive lawsuit in Delaware over a authorized dispute.

Representatives for Sculptor and Och declined to touch upon the filings. The lawsuit, filed by Och and a gaggle of different former executives of the agency, focuses on Levin’s elevation to CEO and the way the board decided his pay.

Surprising Determination

Och co-founded the agency in 1994 and constructed it right into a hedge fund powerhouse with property of virtually $50 billion at its peak. However Och-Ziff’s misconduct in Africa — the topic of a prolonged bribery probe and eventual settlement with US authorities — triggered a cruel bleed of property and personnel. Och stepped down from his function as CEO in 2018 and tapped Robert Shafir, an outsider from the banking world, to steer the agency over Levin, who was co-chief funding officer on the time. The choice caught many off guard.

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Nonetheless, Levin, whose relationship with Och goes again to his days as a counselor and water-skiing coach at a camp the place the billionaire’s kids spent a part of their summer season, ultimately rose to the highest and took over as CEO in 2021. His ascension was accompanied by sizable pay packages that prompted disputes amongst board members.

Och and the opposite former executives are actually probing whether or not board members violated authorized duties by failing to weigh different CEO candidates or do correct succession planning. They’ve additionally pointed to the departures of seven administrators since January 2020, together with 5 who resigned in the midst of their phrases. A few of these board members backed Och’s considerations about Levin’s pay.

‘Close to the Backside’

Sculptor’s lagging efficiency is fueling Och’s questions. In his personal submitting Wednesday, the billionaire stated the agency’s funding efficiency ranks “close to the underside of the pack amongst its friends” and its inventory worth has lagged for the reason that board awarded Levin his “huge pay bundle.”

Sculptor’s flagship hedge fund is down 13.9% this 12 months by way of September, based on an individual conversant in the matter, lagging the common hedge fund. Shares of the agency have plunged 56% this 12 months to $9.24 as of finish of buying and selling Friday.

Hedge Fund Sculptor Has Potential Suitors, Och Tells Board

Sculptor says Och is focusing on Levin for his efforts to resurrect the agency within the wake of the bribery scandal, implement governance reforms and strengthen its stability sheet by looking for monetary concessions from Och, who retaliated by vetoing a call by the board to seat Levin as CEO in 2017.

Soapbox

Och’s animus has turned the comparatively routine file request into a part of his “blood feud” along with his former protégé, Sculptor stated within the submitting. The agency says that Och ought to produce paperwork stretching again six years to “probe the founders’ historic animus.”

“Sculptor pleads plaintiffs lack a correct objective,” in looking for the interior recordsdata, based on the submitting. “Mr. Och and his co-plaintiffs — all of whom have good cause to be loyal to the person who made them wealthy — are utilizing this litigation as a soapbox of their vendetta towards the corporate and Mr. Levin.”

Beneath Delaware regulation, buyers should present they’ve a reputable objective for requesting inside firm recordsdata. Private vendettas don’t meet that check.

For Och’s half, he says that Levin is overreaching in demanding such a variety of paperwork from him to forged doubt on his motives for looking for inside data. Och solely desires recordsdata going again about eight months, based on court docket filings.

The case is Daniel Och v. Sculptor Capital Administration Inc., 22-0748, Delaware Chancery Court docket (Georgetown)

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