The billionaire embroiled in New Jersey’s biggest divorce case Tuesday won his bid to keep the worth of his company’s assets secret from the public as he and his wife duke it out over the staggering fortune.
John Overdeck, 56, asked a judge to kick the public out of a Newark courtroom during testimony about the breakdown of the assets of his $80 billion Manhattan-based hedge fund, Two Sigma.
Family-court Judge Bruce Buechler ruled against sealing the entire testimony of Overdeck’s expert financial witness, Todd Povlich — but agreed that the parts of Povlich’s testimony that could reveal Two Sigma’s company secrets should happen behind closed doors.
The ruling came on the 10th day of a multiday hearing in which Overdeck’s estranged wife, Laura Overdeck, 56, is fighting to be awarded 35% of John’s third of the company he founded with two other people in 2001 — including David Siegel, with whom he’s locked in a bitter company power struggle.
Laura and John, who have three kids, never signed a prenup when they were hitched in 2002.
John’s side claims his portion of Two Sigma is worth $4.5 billion, while Laura’s side says it’s worth $6.2 billion, as she stakes a claim in the business, saying it’s a marital asset.
During the public parts of Tuesday’s hearing, Laura — wearing red glasses, a cream blazer, blue plaid pants and gun-metal-colored woven leather heeled mules — appeared actively engaged, typing on a laptop and frequently leaning over to speak with her lawyers.
John meanwhile spent much of his time in court gazing down at his cell phone as his lawyer questioned Povlich, John’s second-to-last witness.
During the sealed part of the hearing, Povlich was expected to explain how he landed on his estimate of what Two Sigma’s overall worth was by explaining what he believed each of the company’s 20 entities should be valued at.
Earlier, Laura’s lawyer, Theresa Lyons, questioned why Povlich’s testimony needed to be kept secret when John’s side’s estimate of the company worth has already been publicized.
Buechler said he worried that Povlich’s testimony would touch upon “where the values are going, what they are looking at, what they are investing in” — which he claimed would all be protected company secrets that could have a negative impact on Two Sigma if they got out.
Laura filed for divorce from John in 2022 after the pair, both math whizzes, had been married for 20 years, had their three children and raised them in a mansion in tony Short Hills — with the help of a full-time nanny and a 15-hour-a-week housekeeper.
Laura claimed John intentionally tried to hide his assets to get out of paying her a monster sum in their divorce. Laura has turned down a previous settlement offer from John for more than $600 million, claiming she should be entitled to much more if she wins her bid for part of his fund.
The hearing is expected to open back up to the public Wednesday morning. The Overdecks are also due back for additional days in court later this month with testimony expected from one other expert financial witness.
John previously testified for several days, but Buechler barred any testimony from Laura after she was accused of wrongdoing in the case — namely allegedly hacking John’s computer, breaking into his post office box and deleting evidence from her phone.
John recently bought a $72 million waterfront palace in Palm Beach, Fla., which he shares with current gal pal Kimia Shadrokh, 42, a Peakstone managing director and former commercial-real-estate executive at the Moinian Group.
