Help

BI’s Article search uses Boolean search capabilities. If you are not familiar with these principles, here are some quick tips.

To search specifically for more than one word, put the search term in quotation marks. For example, “workers compensation”. This will limit your search to that combination of words.

To search for a combination of terms, use quotations and the & symbol. For example, “hurricane” & “loss”.

Login Register Subscribe

Ex-American Apparel CEO Charney sues investor for defamation

Reprints

(Reuters) — Dov Charney, the ousted chief executive of American Apparel Inc., has filed a $30 million defamation lawsuit against a New York hedge fund that controls a large stake in the clothing company he founded and that refused to support his return.

The lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court is one of several arising from Mr. Charney's suspension last June and dismissal six months later.

American Apparel attributed the suspension to Mr. Charney's alleged misuse of company funds and failure to stop a subordinate from posting false blog entries about former employees.

In the defamation case, Mr. Charney said that Standard General, through its alleged control of American Apparel's board, paid outside law firm Jones Day millions of dollars to "manufacture" reasons to show he was not fit to be chief executive in a "sham" probe into his conduct that would justify his removal.

He alleges Standard General then defamed him by telling media it respected the board's decision to fire him for cause based on the imprimatur from the "independent, third party" probe, which Mr. Charney said was actually a "witch hunt" and a "whitewash."

Standard General called the lawsuit frivolous. "The facts speak for themselves, and we are confident that Mr. Charney will be held accountable for this knowing intentional abuse of the legal system," the New York-based hedge fund said in a statement.

An agreement last July let Standard General nominate three people for American Apparel's nine-person board.

American Apparel and Jones Day are not defendants in Mr. Charney's defamation lawsuit.

In a statement on Friday, an American Apparel spokeswoman said Mr. Charney's claims in his latest lawsuit were without merit. Jones Day did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Standard General and Mr. Charney control the latter's more than 42% stake in American Apparel, a regulatory filing shows.

The hedge fund had helped Mr. Charney boost his stake following his suspension as part of Mr. Charney's effort to reclaim his job.

Mr. Charney is separately engaged in arbitration in which he seeks $40 million in damages for breach of contract tied to his dismissal, including damages for emotional distress, his lawyer Keith Fink said.

The case is Charney v. Standard General L.P. et al., Superior Court of California, Los Angeles County, No. BC581130.

Read Next

  • Energy company reaches settlement over leasing charges in Michigan

    (Reuters) — Chesapeake Energy Corp., the second-largest U.S. natural gas producer, will create a $25 million compensation fund as part of a settlement on Friday of antitrust, fraud and racketeering charges brought by the state of Michigan, according to terms of the settlement reviewed by Reuters.