Billionaire John Overdeck is expected to take the witness stand Tuesday in his blockbuster divorce battle, even as his estranged wife has been blocked from testifying after a judge found she used improper tactics, including hacking into his computer and deleting potential evidence.
New Jersey Family Court Judge Bruce Buechler ruled that Laura Overdeck “engaged in multiple discovery abuses,” according to a transcript from an earlier hearing, pointing to what he described as repeated acts of domestic spying and destruction of evidence.
The alleged misconduct included accessing her husband’s private computer without authorization to photograph emails between him and his attorneys, breaking into his post office box and deleting material from her phone, the judge said.
As a result, Laura Overdeck will not be allowed to testify or present expert witnesses in a case her lawyer has described as the most expensive contested divorce in New Jersey history.
The ruling could seriously complicate her bid to secure a 35% share of John Overdeck’s stake in Two Sigma, the $80 billion hedge fund he co-founded — a claim her legal team has estimated could be worth an eye-popping $6.2 billion.
In April, the judge found that Laura Overdeck had used her cellphone to take pictures of emails in which her husband discussed legal strategy — then failed to hand over the device, according to the transcript.
Despite court orders, she did not produce the phone “until at least 13 months later,” Buechler said, by which point the images had been deleted. Laura Overdeck claimed the phone had been running out of storage space, according to the judge.
“Whether Ms. Overdeck did it maliciously or accidentally is not relevant,” Buechler said. “There’s a cumulative effect here.”
The ruling also found that Overdeck had convinced the post office to provide her with an extra key to her estranged husband’s private P.O. box “so she could access the mail in that box” — but she refused to say what she took or to return it.
Buechler opted to dismiss Overdeck’s divorce complaint — calling it the “ultimate sanction” — severely limiting her options in the Newark courtroom, where the hedge fund honcho was expected to take the stand.
Grilling him on cross-examination will be the main way for her to make her case, as a result of her “multiple discovery abuses,” according to the ruling.
She’ll be legally barred from presenting a single shred of affirmative evidence, testifying in support of her claim or calling her own high-priced valuation experts to the stand.
But Buechler made clear that “the assets need to be equitably distributed,” meaning that the Overdeck fortune will still need splitting up.
At issue is whether Overdeck can claim her husband’s stake in Two Sigma as a marital asset.
But John Overdeck’s lawyers argue the Manhattan-based investment firm was founded two years before the couple’s 2002 nuptials.
On the first day of testimony last week, Laura Overdeck’s lawyer Theresa Lyons revealed that she previously rejected a paltry offer of $633 million to settle the matter, according to Bloomberg.
The financier’s attorney, Jonathan Wolfe, said it was actually a $723 million tax-free equitable distribution. He also denied the $6.2 billion figure, saying that a 35% piece of John Overdeck’s company shares amounted to $4.9 billion.
Laura Overdeck is also suing the law firm responsible for the family’s estate planning, claiming that they secretly helped “divorce-proof” her husband’s assets while they were allegedly also representing her.
Her legal team is appealing Buechler’s ruling, and that process is ongoing. They declined to comment Monday.
