Cohen Family Drama: Ex Seeks Cut of SAC Capital
Two decades after his divorce, Steve Cohen is being sued by his ex-wife Patricia for the second time since December– this time for a “substantial, if not controlling, interest” in SAC Capital, the $12 billion hedge fund he founded and manages. According to an article by New York Magazine, in the first lawsuit,
Patricia demanded $300 million, accusing him of fraud under racketeering statutes—the suit was withdrawn after Patricia changed attorneys, but her new lawyer, Gaytri Kachroo, says she will soon refile. Patricia charged that at the time of their divorce, in 1990, Steve cheated her by hiding assets. But her suit didn’t merely seek financial redress; it was also a stinging personal attack, portraying Steve as not only cheap and deceitful but shady and secretive, a person who 25 years ago might have tried to evade taxes and trade on insider information, suggestions superfluous to the suit’s central claims but which nonetheless made headlines, and at a delicate moment. Steve’s company has been mentioned in connection with stock-manipulation probes, including one by the FBI.
But Patricia’s latest lawsuit aims to hit Stevie where it hurts: by trying to claim what she sees as her rightful share of his eponymous SAC Capital (then known as SAC Trading) which she claims her ex quietly built during their marriage in the 1980s, using nearly $1 million that she earned from a real estate transaction to help seed the firm. If she succeeds in winning the suit, Pat could stand to win billions.
In a New York Post article, SAC Capital spokesman Jonathan Gasthalter said, “These recycled allegations are ridiculous. They are nothing more than a blatant extortion attempt arising from a divorce that was finalized over 20 years ago.”
In the famous words of Kanye West: “Now I ain’t saying she a gold digger…. but if you fu@%ing with this bitch then you betta be paid.”
The man’s a poet and a genius. A modern day renaissance man.
But back to Steve and Pat. Their relationship has always been a little dysfunctional– even in the twenty years since they’ve divorced. Especially in the twenty years since they’ve divorced. Because, even though they’re divorced, they never really cut ties or made efforts to establish a healthy relationship. And they’ve been bickering about money ever since– revising child support agreements since day one.
Another point of contention:
In 2000, [Steve] even insisted on moving Patricia and her kids into a bigger place, but that became yet another case study in family dysfunction. Steve was renovating his Greenwich mansion and thought it was time to also improve his children’s living conditions—the son’s bedroom was a converted dining room. He got Patricia a 2,340-square-foot three-bedroom on Central Park West, renovated it for her, whatever she wanted. But Patricia had to move out during the renovation, and she felt evicted. To add to her sense of injury, Steve and his new wife, Alexandra, whom he married in 1992, kept the title in their name, giving her a $1,471.49-a-month lease in perpetuity. In Steve’s mind, it was for her own good. That at least kept her from mortgaging the place and running through the money and ending up homeless. In Patricia’s eyes, it also kept her subservient, a vassal of the wealthy lord, where once they’d been equals. His so-called generosity enraged her.
Another special twist in this story is that Steve’s new wife, Alex, is in control of the family checkbook. A little background on Alex: 1) she’s not well-disposed towards Patricia because Steve broke up with her four times in order to go back to “that woman“, according to New York Magazine; 2) Alex was a single mom prior to marrying Steve and has been quoted as saying “Why didn’t she get a job? I had to pay for every paper clip if it was for the kids,” and that’s over and above the child support. So, naturally, there’s a little bit of tension there– and it incensed Patricia to “beg” her husband’s new wife for money and to think her children were receiving lesser treatment than their half-siblings.
It doesn’t help that Pat’s a little cuckoo. In the New York Post article, she says she thinks Steve has spies and allies everywhere. She really believes he’s that powerful. The woman might be a little delusional. I’m just saying. I mean, Steve Cohen is powerful– he’s rich and moves rubs elbows with some pretty influential people… but I don’t know that he has spies…
And for someone who technically wasn’t entitled to any spousal support for the past twenty years, Pat has had it pretty good. Steve himself is worth $6.4 billion and is said to have been paying her some $400,000 a year (small change to him) while her kids were at home. She is still continuing to receive $9,000 a year even though her kids are in college. And the woman doesn’t hold a job. By all accounts she hasn’t held a job since they were married. So she has it pretty sweet. I don’t know why she’s wasting her $9,000/month on lawyer fees. Best of luck to her. At the very least, this will be fun to watch unfold.
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