Friday, May 19, 2006

Billionaire's Divorce

Las Vegas Sun reports:
LOS ANGELES (AP) - An appeals court ordered documents from billionaire Ron Burkle's divorce proceedings unsealed after the state's highest court struck down a law that allowed people to shield financial records in divorce cases from public view.

The filings released Thursday detail a 1997 marital agreement in which Burkle and his wife, Janet, decided that she would accept a fraction of their assets - $30 million plus interest and a house - if the couple ever divorced.
The $30M was not enough for her and her greedy lawyers.

In a separate matter, the New York Post gossip page kept running nasty and false stories about Burkle, and then try to extort huge payments to stop the stories. Burkle got audio-video recordings of the demands. The gossip editor complains that he was set up, and faces criminal charges.

I am usually in favor of court proceedings being open to the public, but I would think that Burkle would have had a strong case for sealing the details of his personal finances.

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