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Published September 24, 2023, 4:37 p.m. ET
Maybe he’s more used to a boardroom than a courtroom.
Billionaire investor Michael Fisch struggled to keep his cool as tensions boiled over at a high-profile hearing in his divorce dispute this week – earning him a scolding from a Manhattan judge who warned the angry financier to calm down and the to let lawyers speak.
“Sir, please just listen,” Judge Ariel Chesler told Fisch, 60, during the heated showdown in Manhattan Supreme Court, where the financial mogul and his estranged wife are mulling over how to divide their assets – including three mansions worth nearly $100 million on the same posh Hamptons street.
The jurist’s rebukes came as lawyers for Fisch – whose New York-based private equity fund American Securities manages $7 billion in assets – and philanthropist and former model Laura Roberson-Fisch, 67, during a heated Proceedings last Monday used barbs and made explosive allegations.
His estranged wife’s lawyer claimed Fish “looted art from her home” – and he vowed to advance her just a “single dollar” of her inevitably massive divorce settlement while the legal saga rages.
Fisch’s lawyer, meanwhile, claimed that Laura – also an arts patron and daughter of wealthy Seattle developer Fred Roberson – recently “stalked” the well-heeled executive during his turn to stay at the East Hamptons mansion where the Separated couple took turns living for weeks after spotting an unknown car in the driveway.
Michael Fisch, who runs New York-based private equity giant American Securities, was told to “please just listen” during the wild divorce hearing. Steven Hirsch
“She is clearly exhibiting compulsive behavior to stalk and harass him,” said Fisch’s attorney, Marilyn Chinitz of the Blank Rome law firm. “It was his time in the home. She saw a car on the property and went there to chase him and see, ‘Who is there?'”
As the judge tried to make sense of Chinitz’s various allegations, the attorney assured him that “I want to keep perspective” – prompting a scathing response from Laura’s attorney, Jonathan Wolfe.
“No, she doesn’t,” Wolfe shot back. “She wants to make it as raunchy as possible!”
But Wolfe himself made several scandalous claims during the acrimonious trial – including that his client had obtained a restraining order against Fisch “for looting art from the Kampfheim.”
Insiders told Page Six in February that the couple – who were married for 33 years, have four children together and have not signed a prenup – own a world-class art collection that could be worth more than $500 million.
“He won’t even agree to not letting women sleep in the same bed that she takes turns sleeping in for weeks at a time!”
Laura Roberson-Fisch, attorney Jonathan Wolfe
While Fisch’s exact net worth is unclear, a source told Page Six that the financial mogul is worth “at least $10 billion.”
However, Fisch also “agreed to only a one dollar retainer for equitable distribution” in the case, Wolfe claimed during the Sept. 18 hearing – before making a more personal accusation about Fisch’s sex life.
“He won’t even agree not to put women in the bed where she takes turns sleeping for weeks!” exclaimed Wolfe.
Shortly after arguments began in the relatively dim courtroom in Lower Manhattan, a visibly frustrated Fisch, wearing a blue raincoat over a black pinstripe suit, leaned back in his chair and pressed his left hand tightly to his temple.
As the bitter dispute ends, arts patron and philanthropist Laura Roberson-Fisch is in for a huge payout. Steven Hirsch
But by the end of the afternoon he had sat forward in his chair, leaned forward, and pressed his arms into the desk in front of him.
He repeatedly showed his disgust by either waving his hands wildly or exhaling sharply while putting his face in his hands.
Fisch initially spoke in a relatively measured tone in court, accusing Laura’s lawyers of spinning a “web of lies” while insisting that he had provided sufficient documentation about the couple’s shared financial assets.
But the investment tycoon soon found himself struggling to keep himself together while describing document requests from Laura’s lawyers, which he described as “pure harassment.”
“They can tell you that we didn’t produce it, but it’s not true!” Fisch raged and raised his voice. “I have produced everything that is sensible and I continue to produce it!”
He then tried to cut Wolfe off as the attorney argued that Laura was entitled to receive all of Fisch’s banking and investment records — not just the accounts that Fisch’s camp considers marital.
But Fisch’s outburst quickly sparked reproach from the judge.
“Sir, sir, please listen, please,” Chesler told Fisch.
The lawsuit involves three palatial homes on East Hampton’s Further Lane, known as the “Billionaire’s Quarter.” Dennis A Clark
Fisch also sometimes exaggeratedly muttered “That’s not true” as his ex’s lawyers made their arguments, and at one point he angrily gestured at the judge to signal his disapproval, prompting Chesler to tell him again, “Sir, please just listen.”
Laura Roberson-Fisch remained quiet throughout the hearing, frowning and folding her hands neatly in her lap.
The pair’s lawyers shouted at each other for most of the two-hour battle, leading at one point to Chesler raising his hands and saying, “Everyone please take a breath!”
“Counselors, one at a time, all right?” a court official in the room added at a particularly chaotic moment.
“She is clearly exhibiting compulsive behavior to stalk and harass him.”
Fisch’s attorney, Marilyn Chinitz
At times, the judge seemed more like a couples therapist, urging both sides to “sit together” and find common ground.
Both sides were reportedly in court to argue over what financial records Laura was entitled to as part of the divorce proceedings – although Chesler admitted that “I would like everyone to focus on these requests…things went a little beyond that.” “
Fisch’s lawyers claimed that Laura’s lawyers went on a “fishing expedition” by subpoenaing details of his daily expenses even after the divorce proceedings began.
Laura’s lawyers obtained extensive records of expenses as large as Fisch’s private jet use and as small as where he went to dinner, Chinitz said.
“Why would they care if he went out for Chinese food?” Chinitz said, later adding, “They’re going down a rabbit hole for no other reason than harassment.”
The judge ultimately ruled from the bench that Fisch must hand over all of his bank and investment accounts, but that Laura had no right to know all of his spending habits while the case continued.
Both sides declined to comment on their path out of the court case.
They are due back in court on November 15th.
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