NEW YORK ? The longtime friendship that went sour between billionaire Ronald Perelman and his right-hand dealmaking fellow executive took center stage at a trial Tuesday over a $16 million dispute.
Attorney Elkan Abramowitz argued on Donald Drapkin's behalf that Perelman's company, MacAndrews & Forbes, used the flimsiest of excuses to cut off Drapkin from the millions of dollars he was owed in May 2007 after he left the company "he helped build" to run a hedge fund.
"There's no reason whatsoever for MacAndrews to withhold $16 million from its longtime vice chairman," Abramowitz said. He reduced the dispute to the level of a childhood playground spat, saying MacAndrews was nitpicking reasons to tear up the contract so it could say: "Aha! He violated the agreement. See, you lose $16 million."
He urged the jury: "Make the company honor its obligations to Don and pay the money it owes."
Perelman wasn't in the courtroom Tuesday. The trial is expected to last a week.
The company's attorney, Steven Kobre, said the violations were serious because the contract was written to protect MacAndrews & Forbes from losing control over secrets that had brought it great success with ownership of companies including Revlon Inc.
Kobre said Drapkin "could care less" about satisfying an agreement that promised him a total of $27.5 million, along with electronic devices, five cellphones, hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay a secretary, and a car.
"He didn't really try to comply at all," Kobre said. "He blew off the promise."
He said Drapkin within weeks of the deal had violated two provisions meant to protect the company. The lawyer said Drapkin had kept thousands of documents with confidential company information on a computer he was allowed to keep and had also tried to influence a prominent heart surgeon to leave the company.
Abramowitz said he believed the contract did not require Drapkin to delete the documents from the computer and he noted that Drapkin had persuaded the doctor to join MacAndrews & Forbes and that he was still working there.
The trial is unusual because it involves a relatively small amount of money given the net worth of the men involved. Civil disputes of this sort frequently are settled before trial.
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