Bucks' Co-owner Wesley Edens Allegedly Extorted

Source: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/fortress-co-founder-allegedly-extorted-by-partner-ee9d6666

Wesley Edens, the co-founder of Fortress Investment Group and co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, answered a LinkedIn message from a China-born entrepreneur in 2022 that blossomed into a correspondence.

Changli “Sophia” Luo was a divorcée living in New York City who had founded One World Initiative Advocacy, a Manhattan-based nonprofit that said it worked to produce video interviews with economists and environmentalists. Edens, a billionaire who had divorced his longtime wife the previous year, built a reputation for making counterintuitive financial bets. He successfully invested in subprime loans after the 2008-09 financial crisis, spent billions to build a private passenger railway in Florida and, in 2018, bought a majority stake in the then-struggling English soccer club Aston Villa.

Over messages, he told her how fun it was to own a sports team. And on their third get-together, Edens and Luo had s*x at her apartment in June 2023, according to federal prosecutors.

The brief relationship spiraled into an alleged extortion plot.

...

Months later, Luo’s communications turned from flattering to threatening, according to prosecutors. In November 2023, they said, Luo used a fake name to gain access to the doctor’s office where Edens’s then-girlfriend worked. Luo told the woman, who is now Edens’s wife, that she had had s*x with Edens, whom she described as a terrible person.

Prosecutors say Luo contacted his ex-wife as well.

Months later, they said, she wrote to Edens alleging that he had s*x with her while she was mentally incapacitated. She told him that her “home has cameras,” and that everything Edens “did was caught on camera.” She would go to the media, she said, unless he apologized.

“I am sure your family and business partners will learn about you and your misdeeds from these interviews and will provide exposure that will taint your record forever,” she wrote.

She gave him information for a mediator.

While Edens denied Luo’s allegations, he agreed to participate, believing a resolution would prevent harassment of his family and potential public embarrassment, according to prosecutors.

...

During a Zoom mediation overseen by a former judge, Luo negotiated with lawyers from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom who were representing Edens. Luo’s lawyers said in a court filing that he agreed to settle the matter for $6.5 million, with $1 million upfront.

After that settlement, Luo’s lawyers said she found out she had HPV-16, a s*xually transmitted infection that can lead to cancer. She blamed Edens and sought to renegotiate the deal, her lawyers said. Prosecutors said she asked for as much as $1.215 billion. 

Luo, who had been representing herself, then hired a lawyer, Tyrone Blackburn. He conveyed her threats, including that she would release compromising photos and would “destroy” Edens if he didn’t take “responsibility,” prosecutors said.

I know much of the focus on the Bucks has been on Giannis' future but this is a pretty big case of (for legal purposes, alleged) extortion involving one of the main owners of the Milwaukee Bucks which I feel is worthy of discussion. If this was posted already then it can be deleted but I wasn't able to find any posts about it on the sub's front page.