Bankrupt
“anti-woke”
financial
technology
startup
GloriFi is
shooting
their
shot
against
Biglaw.
Via
trustee
Scott
M.
Seidel,
they
filed
a
complaint
in
Texas
bankruptcy
court
against
Winston
&
Strawn
and
one
of
its
partners
seeking
$1.7
billion
in
damages,
alleging
malpractice
and
a
breach
of
fiduciary
duties.
GloriFi
purported
to
be
an
“anti-woke”
financial
services
firm
for
customers
who
care
about
that
sort
of
thing,
and
hired
Winston
to
go public
at
valuation
of
$1.7
billion.
However
that
never
happened,
and
the
complaint
alleges
it
was
all
the
Biglaw
firm’s
fault.
From
the
court
filing:
But
Winston
Strawn
betrayed
its
fiduciary
duties
owed
to
GloriFi
in
favor
of
appeasing
and
protecting
Toby
Neugebauer
(“Neugebauer”)
–
GloriFi’s
wealthy
founder,
CEO,
and
majority
shareholder
who,
with
the
active
participation
and
assistance
of
Winston
Strawn,
repeatedly
engaged
in
destructive
self-dealing
and
pressure
campaigns
against
GloriFi’s
interests,
outside
investors,
and
independent
board
members.
The
complaint
continues,
“At
every
turn,
Winston
Strawn
conceded
to,
and
assisted
Neugebauer
in,
his
unrelenting
desire
to
engage
in
rampant
self-dealing
and
helped
Neugebauer
run
roughshod
over
GloriFi
and
its
many
other
stakeholders.”
This
allegedly
led
high-profile
investors
—
Peter
Thiel,
Joe
Lonsdale,
Ken
Griffin,
and
Vivek
Ramaswamy
—
to
lose
confidence
in
the
company.
As
such,
“Winston
Strawn’s
wrongdoing
was
a
proximate
cause
in
the
nearly
$2
billion
in
lost
enterprise
value
suffered
by
GloriFi.”
Earlier
this
year,
GloriFi’s
trustee
filed
a
strikingly
similar
lawsuit
against
another
law
firm,
Chapman
and
Cutler,
for
taking
positions
adverse
to
GloriFi’s
interests
to
please
Neugebauer,
the
firm’s
“prized,
self-proclaimed
billionaire
client.”
I
guess
it
has
to
be
*someone’s*
fault
that
“anti-woke”
financial
services
never
became
a
thing.
The
firm
has
a
decidedly
different
take,
saying,”Winston
&
Strawn
adheres
to
the
highest
level
of
ethical
and
legal
standards
in
our
work
on
behalf
of
our
clients.
While
we
will
not
comment
on
active
litigation,
we
look
forward
to
addressing
these
meritless
claims
and
correcting
the
record
in
court.”
You
can
read
the
full
complaint
below.
Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of
The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email
her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
follow
her
on
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@Kathryn1 or
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@[email protected].