He didn’t hedge his marital bet.
The wife of a billionaire hedge fund mogul has gone to court seeking a $6.2 billion slice of his massive fortune — but he allegedly offered her just $633 million in what is the largest divorce battle in New Jersey history, a report said.
The bombshell breakup between John Overdeck and his wife Laura Overdeck — who married without a prenup during the infancy of his Two Sigma Investments firm — kicked off Wednesday in a Newark courtroom.
Laura Overdeck is seeking a 35% piece of her hubby’s stake in the $80 billion firm, which her lawyer said was worth $6.2 billion, along hundreds of millions in bonds and equal control of the family foundation, Bloomberg first reported.
However the wife’s camp says that he made her the low ball offer of $633 million, which they call “as little as possible.”
“John Overdeck is trying to put the genie back in the bottle,” Laura Overdeck’s attorney Theresa Lyons said in court, according to sources.
The heart of the trial — which Lyons noted in court was the Garden State’s biggest contested divorce — comes down to whether Laura Overdeck can claim her husband’s stake in Two Sigma as a marital asset.
As the company and fortunes grew, John Overdeck conspired with the couple’s lawyers to hide assets from his wife as he plotted for divorce over 20 years, Lyons argued, according to the sources.
“John Overdeck is not a man who woke up one morning and decided to divorce his wife,” she said, Bloomberg reported.
John Overdeck’s lawyer Jonathan Wolfe argued that the money was made before the marriage, according to the report.
He contradicted Lyons claims of a $633 million payoff offer and said that John Overdeck actually proposed a $723 million tax-free equitable distribution to his wife.
He said it was “more than enough to meet the needs of the parties’ marital lifestyle,” the report states.
He also denied the $6.2 billion figure, saying that 35% piece of John Overdeck’s company shares is $4.9 billion.
John Overdeck’s lawyers say his wife is not entitled to claim his company stake as an asset since the firm was founded two years before their 2002 nuptials, and was already established in the hedge fund world.
“The company had done substantial work and managed hundreds of millions of dollars before the parties’ marriage,” Wolfe said in his opening statement, the report said.
Lyons, however, argues that her client was due part of her husband’s company stake because Two Sigma had no real assets when the Overdecks tied the knot, sources said. She called the company a “concept of a notion of a company,” before their marriage, Bloomberg said.
John Overdeck’s Forbes net worth stands at $8 billion, making him the 478th richest person in the world, according to the outlet.
Laura Overdeck, who also had experience in hedge funds, founded the Bedtime Math nonprofit in 2012.
Their divorce proceedings — which began in 2022 — could also impact the direction of Two Sigma.
John Overdeck and fellow co-founder David Siegel each own roughly half the firm, but had a falling out that burst into view during 2023. Their decision to quit as co-CEOs during the next year didn’t stop the power struggle.
The divorce’s outcome could end up tipping the firm’s balance of power toward Siegel, Bloomberg reported.
Laura Overdeck is also suing Seward & Kissel, her hubby’s estate law firm, saying they helped him shield assets, according to Blooomberg.
Attorneys for the Overdecks didn’t return or declined requests for comment.
— Additional reporting by Peter Senzamici
