The ongoing court battle between former couple Russell Simmons and Kimora Lee Simmons has finally come to an end, leaving the Def Jam co-founder on the hook for over $100,000.
According to Radar Online, the pair recently appeared in Los Angeles Superior Court, where the judge granted a motion for payment of attorney fees brought by Lee. In court documents, Simmons has been ordered to pay $83,000 in legal fees and an additional $35,000 to cover the costs his ex-wife spent on preparing her motion. The total owed amounts to $100,773.37, and the mogul has 30 days to pay in full. The judgment results from Lee filing a countersuit against Simmons in July after he sued her and her estranged husband, Timothy Leissner.
In October 2021, Simmons accused Lee and Leissner, her investment banker ex, of stealing stocks he owned without permission.
Radar Online reported that Simmons claimed to work with Lee and Leissner on a company called Nu Horizons Investment Group. The company owned the majority stock in the energy drink Celsius. The 65-year-old entrepreneur stated that, unbeknownst to him, his ex used 4 million shares as collateral. Shares were allegedly used when she posted a bond when Leissner was caught up in a money laundering scandal.
As The New York Times reported, to avoid prison time, the former Goldman Sachs banker pleaded guilty to his involvement in swindling over $4 billion from a wealth fund in Malaysia. Included in the plea deal, he also agreed to pay back $44 million.
Simmons believes Leissner’s desperation to avoid jail time and the massive amount of restitution owed was the motive for his actions.
However, the then-couple denied misuse of the shares.
According to Radar Online, Lee’s lawyer stated that “at the time Defendants used the Celsius shares for purposes of the bond in connection with the federal case, Lee understood and believed that Defendants were authorized to use the shares for the bond.”
The shares were being held by the government at the time of the original lawsuit.
Simmons also filed a breach of contract claim against Lee.
However, because Lee could prove that Simmons sold off his interest before she attempted to use hers for Leissner’s bond, she was not in breach of said contract.
Lee is now recovering the legal fees she accrued while defending herself.
Simmons and Lee were married from 1998 to 2009. However, they remained friends and collaborated in business together in the years after their divorce.
The pair are also parents to Ming Lee Simmons, 22, and Aoki Lee Simmons, 20.
