Drivers in Miami and New York. High-finance business appraisers. A Chicago photographer.
All are among those who have been called to testify or provide evidence or otherwise drawn into the 14-month-old divorce case of Chicago multibillionaire Ken Griffin and money manager Anne Dias Griffin, court records show.
Griffin, the richest person in Illinois and founder of Chicago-based hedge fund Citadel, filed for divorce in July 2014 and is asking the Cook County Circuit Court to validate a 2003 prenuptial agreement. He has said Dias Griffin signed it after being counseled by lawyers and that he is “currently paying virtually every expense related to” their three children. He points out that his wife’s net worth is $50 million and that she has already received $40 million through the prenuptial agreement.
Dias Griffin is seeking to have the premarital deal thrown out and claims she was under duress when she signed it. At the time, Griffin had assets of at least $1 billion, and Dias had assets of just under $1 million. She points out that her husband’s monthly net income is now $68 million, and that her request for monthly child support is less than 2 percent of that. Plus, she says in a court filing, Illinois law calls for child support for three children to be, at minimum, 32 percent of net income. A trial over the prenuptial agreement is currently set to begin on Monday.
Forbes magazine, in its annual ranking, said Griffin upped his net worth from $5.5 billion to $7 billion to become the 69th-richest American and the richest person in Illinois.
The couple is also fighting over custody of their children, with Griffin seeking joint custody and his wife seeking sole custody with “reasonable” visitation for him. She also wants to move with them to New York. She has characterized Griffin as a disinterested father, a description he says is untrue.
Here are some of the people and businesses subpoenaed, deposed or otherwise mentioned in court documents:
Duff & Phelps: Duff & Phelps provided a valuation of Citadel between November 2001 and July 2003. It could have been incorporated into Griffin’s net worth statement in the prenuptial agreement, according to court records filed by Dias Griffin. Dias Griffin says the firm’s records might show that Griffin didn’t fully disclose his finances when the prenuptial agreement was signed. Bob Bartell, a Duff & Phelps managing director, has been subpoenaed. The Duff & Phelps subpoena also seeks such information as Citadel’s projected and actual performance in those years, as well as the fees it generated.
Cathleen Belmonte Newman: F4 Financial of Lincolnshire helps clients who are going through divorces. Newman is a “certified divorce financial analyst,” meaning she helps clients with “lifestyle analysis,” expense projections, forensic analysis and expert testimony.
From Newman, Griffin sought documents related to Dias Griffin’s business interests, including Aragon, her now-defunct hedge fund, and Reboot, an online news site featuring original opinion and aggregated news stories.
Griffin sought the records to establish, among other things, that his wife had the ability to support their children. Dias Griffin has said she ended her business and personal investing to raise their children and head their philanthropic efforts.
Limousine and air travel companies in New York, Illinois and Florida: Griffin told the court that subpoenas issued to New York and Miami drivers and to a private aircraft company in Illinois were irrelevant to the key issues in the case. He said his wife subpoenaed them to “embarrass and harass” him regarding “irrelevant details” about his business and personal life.
The subpoena to the aircraft management company covers January 2012 to the present and seeks detailed records of the Griffins’ aircraft use, including passenger lists and departure and destination locations for each trip. Similarly, Dias Griffin’s subpoena for the New York driver covers the same time frame and includes all documents related to the transportation of Griffin, Dias Griffin and other family members, as well as “identification of all persons traveling with any of them on each trip.”
Tim Cummins: Managing director in the valuation and financial opinions group of financial services consulting firm Stout Risius Ross in Chicago.
He has been asked for records related to services that he provided to Dias Griffin concerning the valuation of Citadel in 2001 to 2003, as well as any valuations he provided for any hedge fund, private equity fund or securities brokerages in that time period.
Trish Gilbert: Vice president of human capital for Edgewater Capital Growth Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm. She works closely with the boards and management teams at the companies that Edgewater acquires.
Before joining Edgewater, she had her own consulting business, but before that was a managing director at Citadel. During her eight years there, she led its global recruiting group, helping Citadel expand into new markets and geographies. She was subpoenaed by Dias Griffin.
Alec Litowitz: Litowitz, one of several former Citadel executives mentioned in court filings, is founder and chief executive of Evanston-based hedge fund Magnetar Capital. At MIT, he became the “first All-American squash player in school history,” according to Magnetar’s website. Before starting Magnetar, Litowitz spent nine years as a principal at Citadel, where he was global head of equities.
Litowitz and other former Citadel executives have been drawn into the divorce because of questions surrounding the purchase price paid to them for the sale of their interests in Citadel. Dias Griffin believes that information will help shed light on the value of Citadel at that time, and therefore Griffin’s net worth, when she signed the prenuptial agreement.
Other former Citadel employees subpoenaed include Robert Morette, now with Bain & Co. Current Citadel employees mentioned prominently in court documents include Citadel Chief Operations Officer Gerald Beeson, who helped keep track of Griffin’s payments to his wife.
Tracy Coenen: A forensic accountant and fraud investigator with Sequence Inc. Her name appeared on an “initial witness” list, court records show. Her work includes financial investigations in cases of embezzlement, financial statement fraud, investment fraud, and divorce and family law.
Moishe’s Mini Storage:A South Side storage facility that held “a key piece of physical evidence” — a bedpost that was either yanked off or “inadvertently” fell off during a 2003 argument about the prenuptial agreement at the center of the divorce. Moishe’s was subpoenaed, but the subpoena was withdrawn subject to Dias Griffin’s right to inspect certain items, court records show. Records sought included the “chain of custody and preservation of the bedpost, which is anticipated to be physical evidence in this case,” court records said.
Amanda Sudimack: A professional photographer and founder and president of Chicago-based Artisan Events, whose services include photography, bookbinding and archival services.
In 2007, Dias Griffin paid a retainer to Artisan to make wedding photo albums. That work began in 2010.
Over time, Artisan accumulated 120,000 files, including duplicates, of photographs and videos of the family from various sources, including other photographers, Dias Griffin and the Dias family, court records said.
Dias Griffin gave a laptop to Artisan that includes thousands of photos and videos, from her childhood to present day.
Ken Griffin asked Artisan to turn over photos and videos from the couple’s July 2003 rehearsal dinner, wedding and related events, as well as photos from their first date on March 1, 2002, until the divorce filing on July 23, 2014.
In March, the court essentially approved Griffin’s request by ordering Artisan Events to turn over the material, except for photos of Dias Griffin alone, or of her family or with her friends on occasions when Griffin isn’t there.
Twitter @beckyyerak
