Lerach, a class action attorney, is married to William Lerach, a disbarred former class action attorney who once sent shivers through corporate boardrooms and has acted as an adviser to the plaintiffs’ attorneys.
Defendants include KKR co-founders Henry Kravis and George Roberts, Blackstone founder Stephen Schwarzman, Prisma Capital Partners Chief Executive Officer Girish Reddy and Paamco CEO Jane Buchan. Several outside advisers and Kentucky pension officers and directors are also being sued.
The defendants have denied wrongdoing. The plaintiffs’ claims are “meritless,” according to Don Kelly, an attorney representing Blackstone Alternative Asset Management.
The firm “fully complied with all its commitments to KRS, delivering more than $150 million in net profits to Kentucky pensioners and outperforming by nearly three times the benchmark target set forth by KRS in its contract,” Kelly said in a statement. “This lawsuit is an unfortunate and misguided attempt by plaintiffs’ lawyers to blame others for KRS’s funding shortfalls, which pre-dated the investments at issue.”
Kristi Huller, a spokeswoman for KKR, said in a statement that “we take our fiduciary duty very seriously and continue to believe that the allegations about our firm are meritless, misplaced and misleading.”
This article provided by Bloomberg News.