Sculptor Capital Management Inc. said a lawsuit by founder Dan Och and other former executives seeking documents related to Chief Executive Officer Jimmy Levin’s compensation is “misleading and full of falsehoods.”
The complaint, filed Wednesday in Delaware Chancery Court, presents “a grossly distorted view of board governance at the company,” Sculptor said in a statement Thursday. “We look forward to setting the record straight through the legal process.”
The complaint questioned the independence of Sculptor’s board, alleging it awarded Levin “ever-escalating pay packages” totaling $145.8 million last year.
Sculptor said it has the “highest standards of corporate governance” and that it “brought the company, its balance sheet, and its standing with our clients back from the activities that resulted in the government sanctions leveled against Och-Ziff and Mr. Och personally.”
The hedge fund experienced a prolonged client exodus that resulted in $30 billion of redemptions since 2014, when the firm disclosed that it was the target of a bribery probe into its business in Africa. It has since resolved those legal issues, paying hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and penalties as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with the US and guilty plea by the Africa unit.
Shares of New York-based Sculptor fell 4.2% to $9.03 at 2:36 p.m. in New York, extending their decline for the year to 58%.
--With assistance from Anders Melin.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.