At the heart of their claim seems to be the belief that Steve’s ex-wife, Patricia, is crazy, and by extension, so is her ex-lawyer, for filing her suit, which essentially accuses the big guy of being a mobster.
Lawyers for Steven A. Cohen, the founder of SAC Capital Advisors LP sued by his ex-wife last month for racketeering, said they will ask a judge to sanction the attorney who filed what they called a “frivolous” suit.
The lawyer, Paul Batista of New York, asked to withdraw from the case three weeks after he filed it. Steven Cohen’s lawyers said in papers filed Jan. 8 in federal court in New York that Batista should be sanctioned under a federal-litigation rule.
“We believe there is a very serious question about how any competent lawyer, consistent with his or her obligations under Rule 11, could have filed such a pleading, and we intend to pursue a Rule 11 remedy,” Steven Cohen’s lawyers wrote. “Given Mr. Batista’s request to withdraw, and the fact that new counsel has not yet appeared, someone must remain responsible for this frivolous pleading and the maintenance of this action.”
