Businessman Daniel Lee does not want former colleagues to get his personnel records to defend themselves in a lawsuit he brought against them.
Lee, of Greenwich, Connecticut filed motions to quash subpoenas issued on behalf of Richard Golaszewski, of Rye, and Stephen Swentzel, of Manhattan, July 5 in U.S. District Court, White Plains.
Lee claims that his personnel records — from 17Capital, where all three men were employed, and from Oak Hill Advisors, where he now works — are private and irrelevant to the lawsuit in which he accuses Golaszewski and Swentzel of surreptitiously ousting him from a lucrative partnership.
Lee was head of fundraising and investor relations at 17Capital. Golaszewski and Swentzel were managing directors.
In 2021, Lee says he formed a partnership that would combine their talents and market their services to another private equity firm. He conceived, developed and led the partnership and presented a deal to Hunter Point Capital in Spring 2022.
He claims that Hunter Point estimated that the three men could earn $848 million over a ten year span.
But Hunter Point hired Golaszewski and Swentzel, not Lee.
Lee sued his former colleagues this past March in Stamford Superior Court, claiming they had betrayed him to “fatten their own pockets.”
He accused them of breaches of a partnership agreement, a joint venture agreement and fiduciary duty.
Golaszewski and Swentzel state in court records that they did attend some meetings with Lee, including with Hunter Point Capital officials. But they told Lee not to use their names in his job hunt or to present them as parts of a packaged deal.
Lee’s future at 17Capital was bleak, they claim, and when Hunter Point Capital declined to hire Lee he “adopted the preposterous legal theory” that the three men had created a legally binding partnership.
They say they never agreed to a partnership, in writing or otherwise.
Lee’s lawsuit was moved to U.S. District Court, in New Haven, Connecticut. On July 5, attorneys for Golaszewski and Swentzel subpoenaed Lee’s employment records.
Lee was fired at 17Capital, they claim, because of poor performance, disruptive behavior and refusal to participate in his annual performance review.
Employment records will show that Lee was a “value destroyer, not a value creator,” they argue, and that it made no sense for them to link their job prospects to Lee and his “imagined partnership.”
Lee responded that the “request to dumpster-dive” through his employment records “is nothing more than an attempt to distract from their own misconduct.”
He said his former colleagues “repeatedly slander, for no apparent relevant reason, their former friend, colleague, and business partner with needless false attacks. These are simply the lowest form of litigation tactics.”
Oral arguments are scheduled for Aug. 10 before U.S. District Judge Philip M. Halpern.
Lee is represented by Manhattan attorney Jonathan D. White. Golaszewski and Swentzel are represented by White Plains attorneys Michael H. Reed and Russell M. Yankwitt.
