A New York appeals court ruled that a lawsuit filed by two former employees of Touradji Capital Management should not have been dismissed by a lower court. As such, Touradji will have to defend itself from accusations that it withheld over $50 million in bonuses.
The original suit was brought by Gentry Beach, who worked for the commodity hedge fund through 2008. In December of that year, Beach claimed that Touradji had not paid him three years of bonuses, amounting to $23 million dollars. Another employee, Robert Vollero, soon joined the lawsuit, saying that Touradji tried to intimidate him into sending a letter to investors defending the hedge fund against Beach's accusations. Vollero maintains that his own bonus would be forfeited if he did not comply.
To add to the mess, in 2009 Touradji countersued the two ex-employees, saying that they were:
"responsible for the destruction of millions of dollars of investor capital through a pattern of fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, mismanagement and utter disregard for the interests of the investors."
Touradji is also suing Gary Beach, the father of Gentry Beach. Gary Beach is suing Touradji for disrupting a joint venture between the two.
Even though the claims of unjust enrichment and labor law violations will now go forward, Touradji lawyer Sean O'Brien seemed supremely confident that despite a technical defeat at the hands of the appeals court, Touradji will prevail in the end:
"These are claims which we are confident will ultimately be dismissed."
© 2011 Hedge Fund Writer LLC
