Technology investor Paul Gardi cannot recoup more than $6.3 million that investment firm JANA Partners paid to disbarred attorney Marc Dreier that was meant as a settlement payment to Mr. Gardi but was stolen by Mr. Dreier, a Manhattan bankruptcy judge has ruled.
Southern District Bankruptcy Court Judge Stewart M. Bernstein ruled yesterday in Gardi v. JANA, 10-3642, that the settlement agreement to which Mr. Dreier forged Mr. Gardi’s signature in order to get JANA’s funds was binding on the parties and that JANA therefore had no more liability to Mr. Gardi. Nevertheless, the judge ruled, Mr. Gardi might be able to recover some of the money through the bankruptcy case of Mr. Dreier’s now-defunct law firm.
