<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Antonio Brown's departure from the Oakland Raiders came with plenty of twists and turns leading up to his release on Saturday.</li><li>On Monday, some questions surrounding the video Brown posted on Friday were finally answered by the man that created the video.</li><li>Alejandro Narciso of SDLN Creative told ESPN's "Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz" about how the video came to fruition.</li><li>Narciso told Le Batard that Gruden "loved" the video and gave his consent for its release.</li><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</strong></li></ul><p>Antonio Brown's brief tenure with the Oakland Raiders came to its bizarre end on Saturday after the team granted his release per his request.</p><p>It was the end of a weird saga that involved Instagram posts, frozen feet, and numerous fines and disputes with the team's front office.</p><p>But one of the strangest turns of the exit from the Raiders came on Friday night when the star wide receiver posted a video to YouTube that included a call with head coach Jon Gruden.</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: </em><em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/antonio-brown-youtube-video-jon-gruden-raiders-2019-9" data-analytics-position="9">Antonio Brown posts wild video with a recorded call from Jon Gruden asking 'Do you want to be a Raider or not?'</a></em></p><p>The video brought plenty of questions - did Gruden know he was being recorded? Was he okay with the video? Was this video a sign that Brown's time with the Raiders was close to finished?</p><p>But one question seemed to dominate the conversation more than any other - how did Brown produce such a high-quality video, complete with cinematic shots and an orchestral score?&#xa0;&#xa0;</p><p>As it turns out, it was Alejandro Narciso of SDLN Creative that helped Brown produce the video. But as he told ESPN's "The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz," the production and publishing of the video didn't go all that smoothly.</p><p>"It actually wasn't supposed to be that kind of video at first," Narciso, 25, told Le Batard's show. Narciso said he was used to producing "hype" videos and had approached Brown about putting something together ahead of the Raiders game against the Broncos on "Monday Night Football."</p><p>Brown agreed, and Narciso took footage of Brown as he trained in order to put the video together. After Narciso put together his original cut of the video, Brown told him that the situation had changed a bit. "[Brown] asked me, 'Yo, this video you made is amazing, but it's too positive right now,'" Narciso told Le Batard.</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/antonio-brown-signs-with-patriots-bill-belichick-2019-9" data-analytics-position="8">Antonio Brown is reportedly set to join the New England Patriots after bizarre departure from Oakland Raiders</a></em></p><p>Narciso was with Brown when Gruden called and decided to use the recording in the video. However, he later realized that it would be illegal to use the recording of Gruden without his consent according to California law. Before starting from scratch again, someone suggested sending the video to Gruden and asking for permission.</p><p>"When we were waiting for Gruden's response [I thought] he's going to say, 'Listen AB, I love you man, but that's disrespectful. I can't be having you post our own private conversations," Narciso told Le Batard.</p><p>"Gruden gave permission?!" Le Batard interrupted in shock.</p><p>"And then he responds like 15 minutes later," Narciso continued. "Three texts, he goes 'Wow. I love it. Loved it. I love it.' I was like 'Whaaaat?!' And then we were like, alright, here's our consent."</p><p>You can watch a clip of Le Batard interview with Narciso below.</p><p>Narciso also told Le Batard that reports of Brown consulting with social media experts were not true, saying "He's his own consultant, he knows what he's doing."</p><p>He also said that the initial reaction to the video was a bit overwhelming, telling Le Batard "I'm used to everyone just commenting fire emojis."</p><p>You can listen to Le Batard's entire interview with Narciso <a href="http://www.espn.com/espnradio/play?id=27578370" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.</p><ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li></ul><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nfl-week-1-winners-and-losers-2019-9" data-analytics-position="1" data-analytics-module="onecolumn-post_image">13 winners and losers of Week 1 of the NFL season</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dolphins-players-request-trade-miami-tank-2019-9" data-analytics-position="2">Multiple Dolphins players reportedly requested to be traded after embarrassing 59-10 loss because the team is tanking</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/waiver-wire-week-2-pick-ups-2019-9" data-analytics-position="1">Top 13 waiver-wire pickups for Week 2 of fantasy football</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lamar-jackson-dominates-miami-dolphins-2019-9" data-analytics-position="3">'Not bad for a running back': Lamar Jackson silenced his doubters with a brilliant performance</a></p><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-it-takes-to-be-an-nfl-referee-football-sunday-roger-goodell-tom-brady-2018-9">What it takes to be an NFL referee, according to an official who spent 19 seasons in the league</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

The creator of Antonio Brown's controversial video depicting a phone call with Jon Gruden says the coach 'loved it'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The conservatorship overseeing <keyword id="14710" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Britney-spears">Britney Spears</keyword>' life for the last 13 years has been in flux.</li><li>We've rounded up all the major players you should know about, from her dad Jamie to various lawyers.</li><li>In July, Spears was able to pick her own lawyer for the first time and she hired Mathew Rosengart.</li></ul><p>Britney Spears has been <a href="https://www.insider.com/inside-britney-spears-conservatorship-freebritney-movement-2020-12">under a conservatorship</a> since 2008. Stripped of many legal rights, the pop star needs the permission of her conservators - currently, her father <keyword id="20982" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Jamie-Spears">Jamie Spears</keyword> and the attorney Jodi Montgomery - to make major decisions about her own life and finances.</p><p>In recent weeks, Spears has <a href="https://www.insider.com/britney-spears-bombshell-testimony-conservatorship-hearing-full-text-2021-6">spoken out about her situation for the first time</a> and <a href="https://www.insider.com/britney-spears-new-lawyer-conservatorship-2021-7">retained a new lawyer</a> to give her more control. But <a href="https://www.insider.com/inside-britney-spears-conservatorship-freebritney-movement-2020-12#in-the-late-2000s-britney-spears-had-several-highly-publicized-mental-breakdowns-1">the path until now has been long and winding</a>, and filled with family members and lawyers who have all, in one way or another, exerted control over her life.</p><p>Here are the 15 key people or entities who have been involved in Spears' conservatorship and the battle to end it.</p><h2 style="text-align: center;"><u>Britney Spears is one of the most famous pop stars of all time</u></h2><div type="image" title="britney spears" height="1409" width="1879" msid="84945030" hostid="261"></div><p>After getting her start in the <keyword id="4578" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="entertainment">entertainment</keyword> industry when she was just 11 years old, Spears signed her first record deal at age 15 and has since released nine studio albums.</p><p>Now 39, Spears was first placed into the conservatorship <a href="https://www.insider.com/inside-britney-spears-conservatorship-freebritney-movement-2020-12#this-tumultuous-period-led-to-spears-court-approved-conservatorship-which-was-implemented-at-the-end-of-2008-2">after being sent to a psychiatric hospital</a> when she was 26 years old. </p><h2 style="text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: #ffffff;"><u>Spears' family members known to be involved in the conservatorship</u></strong></h2><h3><strong style="background-color: #ffffff;">Jamie is Spears' father, the primary orchestrator behind her conservatorship, and the current sole conservator of her financial estate</strong></h3><div type="image" title="A preview of Britney Spears with her father, Jamie Spears." height="1218" width="1624" msid="84945031" hostid="261"></div><p>James "Jamie" Parnell Spears is Spears' father. Jamie is currently 69 years old and father to two kids, Bryan and Jamie Lynn, in addition to Spears.</p><p>His ex-wife Lynne alleged in her autobiography that Jamie has struggled with alcoholism since the late '80s. Lynne and Jamie divorced in 2002. Reports surfaced in 2010 that the two had <a href="https://people.com/celebrity/britney-spearss-parents-lynne-jamie-reconciling/">reconciled without remarrying</a>, but it's unclear whether they're currently still together.</p><p>In 2008, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/american-chronicles/britney-spears-conservatorship-nightmare">according to the New Yorker</a>, Jamie led the effort to have Spears placed under a conservatorship, and took the role as her primary overseer. In 2019, he was removed from the section of her conservatorship that runs her personal affairs, but he remains the sole conservator for her financial estate. </p><p>According to a recent sworn statement from Lynne, <a href="https://www.insider.com/britney-spears-mom-makes-damning-statement-against-jamie-spears-2021-7">Jamie has had "complete control" over Spears</a> for the last 13 years. Lynne's statement also confirmed reports from 2019 about a <a href="https://people.com/music/britney-spears-upset-dad-jamie-alleged-altercation-son/">"physical altercation" that happened between Jamie and one of Spears' teenaged sons.</a></p><h3><strong>Lynne, Spears' mother, says she wasn't involved with the logistics of the conservatorship until 2018</strong></h3><div type="image" title="Lynne Spears" height="1317" width="1757" msid="84945032" hostid="261"></div><p>Lynne Spears (née Bridges) is currently 66 years old. She married Jamie in 1976, and they had three children together before their 2002 divorce. She later wrote a memoir, and said <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/american-chronicles/britney-spears-conservatorship-nightmare">Spears had encouraged the separation</a> due to how "years and years of verbal abuse, abandonment, erratic behavior, and his simply not being there for me had taken their toll."</p><p>When Spears' conservatorship was established in 2008, Lynne was supportive but, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/american-chronicles/britney-spears-conservatorship-nightmare">according to a report from the New Yorker</a>, believed the legal arrangement would be temporary. </p><p>In July 2021, Lynne <a href="https://www.insider.com/britney-spears-mom-makes-damning-statement-against-jamie-spears-2021-7">filed a statement to the Los Angeles court</a>, saying that she became more formally involved with the conservatorship during a "time of crisis" in 2018.</p><p>Lynne also said in the filing that she believed it was in Spears' best interest to remove Jamie from the guardianship, and said the relationship between her ex-husband and daughter "has dwindled to nothing but fear and hatred."</p><h2 style="text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: #ffffff;"><u>Spears' conservatorship judges</u></strong></h2><h3><strong>Reva Goetz is the judge who initially granted Spears' conservatorship</strong></h3><p>Reva Goetz served as a Los Angeles County judge between 2001 and 2015. Prior to that, she was a Malibu Municipal Court commissioner.</p><p>In 2008, she <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/22/arts/music/britney-spears-conservatorship.html">granted the initial petition</a> to put Spears under conservatorship.</p><p>Goetz oversaw all matters related to the conservatorship until she retired in 2015, court records show. Goetz now works as an arbitrator in California.</p><h3><strong>Brenda Penny took over as the judge overseeing the conservatorship case in 2016</strong></h3><p>Judge Brenda Penny has overseen the Spears conservatorship case in the Los Angeles court since 2016, court records show. She initially oversaw the case in the role of probate commissioner, and was elected as a judge in the California Superior Court in 2018.</p><div type="image" title="Britney Spears and her father Jamie" height="2090" width="2786" msid="84945034" hostid="261"></div><h2 style="text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: #ffffff;"><u>Spears' conservatorship lawyers and other attorneys she attempted to hire</u></strong></h2><h3><strong>Samuel Ingham, III, was appointed by the court to be Spears' lawyer in 2008 and served in that role until July 2021</strong></h3><p>Samuel Ingham, III, a probate lawyer, was appointed by Judge Goetz when the conservatorship went into effect.</p><p>According <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/american-chronicles/britney-spears-conservatorship-nightmare">to the New Yorker's report</a>, Goetz granted a request from the conservators to "waive the requirement to notify [Spears] that any of this was happening." Spears had no say in the selection of Ingham as her legal representative. He remained in that role until <a href="https://www.insider.com/britney-spears-new-lawyer-conservatorship-2021-7">his resignation was approved</a> in July 2021.</p><h3><strong>Adam Streisand is a high-profile attorney who Spears initially wanted to represent her instead of Ingham</strong></h3><p>Shortly after the conservatorship began, Spears told Judge Goetz <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/arts/music/is-britney-spears-ready-to-stand-on-her-own.html">she wanted Adam Streisand</a> - a prominent trusts and estates litigator - to represent her. But <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/american-chronicles/britney-spears-conservatorship-nightmare">Goetz barred Spears from hiring her own lawyer</a> and blocked Streisand from intervening in the case.</p><p>In the years since, Streisand <a href="https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/britney-spears-ex-lawyer-slams-current-attorney-amid-conservatorship/">has publicly criticized Ingham</a> and said Jamie Spears was exerting too much control over his daughter's life.</p><h3><strong>Jon Eardley is another lawyer Spears attempted to hire </strong></h3><p>After Goetz blocked Spears from having Streisand represent her, the pop star hired attorney Jon Eardley to appeal the decision and get the conservatorship invalidated. He argued that Spears was being denied due process.</p><p>Eardley lost the appeal in March 2008 with the court ruling, once again, that <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spears-conservator-idUSN2435027020080324">Spears didn't have a right to hire her own lawyer</a>. Later on, Jamie, acting on his daughter's behalf, <a href="https://www.cbs8.com/article/entertainment/restraining-order-issued-in-spears-case/509-4034504a-b7b0-4abe-9a98-40cfed2f787f">filed a restraining order</a> against Eardley.</p><p>According to the New Yorker, the California state bar filed disciplinary charges against Eardley because he tried to represent Spears without her legal consent, and he was ultimately disbarred.</p><h3><strong>Mathew Rosengart is the new lawyer Spears was finally able to select herself </strong></h3><div type="image" title="Mathew Rosengart" height="1031" width="1375" msid="84945035" hostid="261"></div><p>In July, Judge Penny <a href="https://www.insider.com/britney-spears-new-lawyer-conservatorship-2021-7">granted Spears permission to hire Mathew Rosengart as her personal attorney</a> to represent her in the conservatorship. Rosengart served as a trial attorney at the US Justice Department during Bill Clinton's administration and has since been a go-to lawyer for celebrities and major companies in white collar criminal and civil litigation cases.</p><p>Rosengart's first efforts have been focused on <a href="https://www.insider.com/britney-spears-formally-petitions-for-jamie-removal-conservatorship-2021-7">ousting Jamie Spears from his role in the conservatorship</a>.</p><h2 style="text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: #ffffff;"><u>Former, current, and possible conservators of Spears' personal affairs and financial estate</u></strong></h2><h3><strong>Andrew Wallet was appointed as coconservator with Jamie in 2008</strong></h3><p>Andrew Wallet, an LA-based attorney, was appointed as one of Spears' conservators when she was first put under the conservatorship in 2008.</p><p>At the time, Jamie was appointed as both Spears' personal and estate conservator, and Wallet served as a coconservator for her estate. He resigned from his role <a href="https://www.insider.com/inside-britney-spears-conservatorship-freebritney-movement-2020-12#around-this-time-spears-lawyer-wallet-resigned-as-co-conservator-but-didnt-give-a-reason-for-his-resignation-this-left-her-father-jamie-as-the-sole-conservator-10">in March 2019</a>.</p><h3><strong>Bessemer Trust was briefly a coconservator for Spears' financial estate alongside Jamie, but the company recently resigned from that role</strong></h3><p>Bessemer Trust, a third-party financial company, was appointed by the court to be a coconservator of Spears' financial estate in November 2020.</p><p>According <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/01/arts/music/britney-spears-bessemer-trust-conservatorship.html">to the New York Times</a>, Bessemer had not yet started its duties, nor received any assets or taken any fees, by the time Spears gave her damning testimony to the court in June. The company filed a request to withdraw from the guardianship on July 1. That request was granted by Judge Penny, <a href="https://www.insider.com/britney-spears-estate-conservator-bessemer-trust-officially-resigns-2021-7">leaving Jamie as the sole conservator overseeing Spears' financial estate</a> (but not her personal affairs).</p><h3><strong>Jodi Montgomery has been a coconservator of Spears' personal affairs since 2019</strong></h3><p>While Jamie remains as the conservator of his daughter's financial affairs, Judge Penny appointed Jodi Montgomery as Spears' personal conservator in September 2019. In that role, Montgomery makes decisions about Spears' health, housing, safety, and other issues related to her day-to-day care.</p><p>In her June conservatorship hearing testimony, Spears blamed her father for alleged abuse - including forcing her to work and denying her the right to remove her IUD - but Jamie has sought to shift the blame to Montgomery. Lauriann Wright, Montgomery's lawyer, <a href="https://www.paismontgomery.com/press-statement">denied any wrongdoing</a> on Montgomery's behalf and said she would introduce a plan to end the conservatorship in accordance with Spears' wishes.</p><p>In 2020, Spears had asked the judge - without success - to appoint Montgomery as both her personal and financial conservator.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><strong>Jason Rubin is a certified public accountant (CPA) who Spears has requested to replace her dad as conservator of her financial estate</strong></h3><p>On July 26, Rosengart <a href="https://www.insider.com/britney-spears-formally-petitions-for-jamie-removal-conservatorship-2021-7">filed an official petition request to have Jamie removed</a> from Spears' conservatorship. The request said Spears wished for her dad to be replaced by Jason Rubin. </p><p>According <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/26/britney-spears-attorney-seeks-to-have-a-cpa-as-new-conservator.html">to CNBC</a>, Rubin is the president of Certified Strategies, "a firm that has experience in estate financial management, elder financial abuse investigation, investment fraud investigation and securities litigation."</p><h1 style="text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: #ffffff;"><u>Spears' former business managers</u></strong></h1><h3><strong>Lou Taylor is a business manager who some believe may have come up with the conservatorship idea in the first place. Taylor has denied this.</strong></h3><div type="image" title="A woman with long blonde hair and wearing a black blouse speaks into a microphone while one arm gestures upwards." height="1410" width="1880" msid="84945037" hostid="261"></div><p><em>This section has been updated after Insider received correspondence from Taylor's lawyer.</em></p><p>Lou Taylor is the CEO of Tri-Star Sports and Entertainment Group, a management company that represents numerous A-list celebrities. </p><p>Pro-Spears activists have long accused Taylor of being <a href="https://www.lamag.com/culturefiles/freebritney-fans-applaud-new-details-in-conservatorship-court-filing/">one of the architects of Spears' conservatorship</a>; the New Yorker's investigation reported that Taylor and Jamie had taken the initial steps in consulting lawyers about establishing a conservatorship together (Taylor's lawyer told the New Yorker that <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/american-chronicles/britney-spears-conservatorship-nightmare">Taylor was "more of a listener than a contributor"</a> in those calls and, after publication of this article, told Insider that Ms. Taylor was not "one of the architects" of Spears' conservatorship and that the conservatorship was "certainly not created with any contribution of Ms. Taylor or [her company] Tri Star.")</p><p>The conservatorship was established in 2008, and Jamie appointed Taylor's firm, Tri Star, as his daughter's estate's business manager in 2009, first for the Circus Tour and then, in 2010, for the estate itself. <a href="https://www.lamag.com/culturefiles/freebritney-fans-applaud-new-details-in-conservatorship-court-filing/">Taylor's firm abruptly dropped the Spears account in November 2020</a>, according to court filings obtained by Los Angeles Magazine.</p><h3><strong>Larry Rudolph had been one of Spears' managers since the mid-1990s, but resigned in July 2021</strong></h3><div type="image" title="britney spears manager" height="1193" width="1591" msid="84945038" hostid="261"></div><p>On July 6, Larry Rudolph <a href="https://deadline.com/2021/07/britney-spears-manager-resigns-singer-retirement-rumors-freebritney-conservatorship-1234786585/">reportedly sent a resignation letter to Jamie and Montgomery</a> saying it had been more than two years since he and Spears had "last communicated," and that at the time she had told him "she wanted to take an indefinite work hiatus."</p><p>The letter said Rudolph had "never been a part of the conservatorship nor its operations." He wanted to resign from her team because his "professional services" as her manager were no longer needed.</p><p>"I wish Britney all the health and happiness in the world, and I'll be there for her if she ever needs me again, just as I always have been," the letter concluded.</p>

Meet the 15 key players involved in the Britney Spears conservatorship case

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Republican Sen. John McCain slammed his GOP colleague, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, on Wednesday after Paul blocked the passage of a treaty that would allow Montenegro to move forward with joining NATO, Defense <keyword id="6355005" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="News">News</keyword>' <span>Joe Gould <a href="https://twitter.com/reporterjoe/status/842096982797783040">reported on Wednesday.</a></span></p><p>"The senator from Kentucky is now working for Putin," McCain said after Paul entered the Senate chamber, voted against the accession protocol, and exited. </p><p>"<span style="text-decoration: line-through;"></span>@SenJohnMcCain, <span style="text-decoration: line-through;"></span>@SenatorShaheen <span style="text-decoration: line-through;"></span>@BenCardinforMD clearly unhappy Paul abruptly walked out without any rationale or debate," Gould tweeted.</p><p>McCain seemed to be implying that Paul's move to block the treaty aligned with Russian President Vladimir Putin's staunch opposition to Montengro's accession to NATO, which he views as a threat to Russian sovereignty. <span>Albania and Croatia joined the alliance 2009.</span></p><p><span>For Montenegro to move forward with the accession process, which was approved in May, the treaty has to be ratified by the US Senate by unanimous consent. </span><span>Twenty-one of 28 NATO allies have already backed Montenegro's accession. </span></p><p><span>Asked about McCain's comment, Paul stood by his decision to block the treaty and said it would be "<span>unwise to expand </span><span>the monetary and military obligations of the United States given the burden of our $20 trillion debt."</span></span></p><p><span>"Currently, the United States has troops in dozens of countries and is actively fighting in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Yemen (with the occasional drone strike in Pakistan)," Paul told Business Insider in a statement provided by his office. "In addition, the United States is pledged to defend 28 countries in NATO."</span></p><p><span>McCain, meanwhile, has said he would "love to see" Montenegro join NATO and promised <span>Montenegro Prime Minister Dusko Markovic in January that the Senate would ratify the treaty soon, according to <a href="http://www.rferl.org/a/us-senate-foreign-relations-committee-backs-montenegro-bid-join-nato/28227155.html">Radio Free Europe</a>.</span></span></p><p><span><span>Markovic was the target of a coup plot, allegedly orchestrated by Russian intelligence agents, to overthrow Montenegro's pro-NATO government and replace it with a Russia-friendly regime, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/26/world/europe/finger-pointed-at-russians-in-alleged-coup-plot-in-montenegro.html?_r=0">The New York Times reported.</a> The plot was uncovered in November after the pro-Russian mercenary who helped organize it was arrested by Montenegrin police.</span></span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-surprises-first-white-house-tour-group-children-politics-visitors-2017-3">Watch Trump surprise the first White House tour group</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="JzNTQ3YTE6c5ZFvLk4cr5mvE7AtQYu55" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

'The senator from Kentucky is now working for Putin': John McCain slams Rand Paul for blocking Montenegro from joining NATO

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Orjan F. Ellingvag/Corbis via Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Two hedge funds are going to war over investments related to the  Stuyvesant Town housing development in Manhattan.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village, the an iconic New York property and the largest apartment complex in Manhattan, is at the center of dueling lawsuits involving hedge funds Fortress Investment Group and Och-Ziff Capital Management.</li><li>The lawsuits are complex, but at stake is the fate of some $1 billion in fees stemming from the management of the StuyTown property and its commercial debt following its default in 2010 and eventual sale in 2015 to Blackstone Group for $5.3 billion. </li><li>Och-Ziff hasn't previously been publicly connected to the litigation, which was filed in 2017 by an investment vehicle it holds a stake in.</li></ul><p>An iconic New York City real-estate development is once again at the center of a legal battle by Wall Street investors looking to score big. </p><p>The largest apartment complex in Manhattan, Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village is a sprawling, 11,200-unit development on the island's east side, and over the past decade a slew of investors having been tussling over the billions in value tied up in those red-brick buildings.</p><p>The latest battle is shaping up to be an ugly one: Hedge fund rivals Fortress Investment Group and Och-Ziff Capital Management are tangled up in dueling lawsuits over the fate of some $1 billion in fees stemming from the management of the StuyTown property and its commercial debt following its default in 2010 and eventual sale in 2015 to Blackstone Group for $5.3 billion. </p><p>At the essence, according to court documents and conversations with people familiar with the litigation, the arguments boil down to this:</p><ul><li><span>Cobalt, a vehicle that Och-Ziff invested in that owns Stuy Town debt,</span> says a little-known firm controlled by Fortress called CWCapital Asset Management should have shared with creditors the colossal horde of fees it earned managing the housing development, but instead orchestrated self-serving arrangements to keep all the money to itself.</li><li>Fortress and CWCapital, meanwhile, say they collected fees outlined and in accordance with the contract, and allege that Och-Ziff bought into the investment years after the alleged breaches occurred with sole intention of filing a lawsuit, via Cobalt, and claiming financial injury after the fact. Moreover, they claim, Och-Ziff fraudulently misrepresented itself when purchasing its stake, a deal CWCapital says it otherwise would have nixed. </li><li>The twin lawsuits currently awaiting oral arguments in New York County court. </li></ul><p>Och-Ziff hasn't previously been publicly connected to the litigation.</p><p>When the initial action against Fortress was <a href="https://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20171205/REAL_ESTATE/171209945/firm-based-in-the-cayman-islands-sues-cwcapital-over-stuyvesant-town-profits">filed back in December 2017</a>, Och-Ziff was nowhere to be found in the suit. Rather, Cobalt, the issuer of the passive investment vehicle Och-Ziff bought a stake in in 2016, filed the claim. </p><p>But subsequent court filings allege Och-Ziff orchestrated the lawsuit after taking a stake in Cobalt. Both entities were represented by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart &amp; Sullivan, though in Fortress' counter-suit Och-Ziff is represented by Latham &amp; Watkins. </p><p>Cobalt lawyers deny the entity is acting as a "puppet" of Och-Ziff. </p><p>Fortress is represented by Venable.</p><p>The legal claims at play are complex, even by commercial real estate litigation standards, according to Scott Tross, a <a href="http://www.herrick.com/scott-t-tross/">partner at the law firm Herrick Feinstein</a> and an expert in commercial real estate litigation and disputes.</p><p>"They're not plain vanilla cases," Tross said. "They're the product of two very creative law firms."</p><p>Tross says there may be some merit to the notion that CWCapital, as the so-called special servicer managing the property for creditors, should have shared fees, a practice he says has become widespread over roughly the past five years. </p><p>But it's not clear that Och-Ziff will be permitted to make the claim through the investment vehicle, given it arrived so late to the party and seemingly with the express purpose of filing suit. The investment vehicle it bought into in 2016 - a Cayman Island's-based shell company that buys up mortgage securities and issues notes to investors as a collateralized debt obligation (CDO) - has been around for more than a decade.</p><p>"The CDO has been around for a long time. After almost a decade of being in existence, they all of a sudden show up and want to assert claims based on conduct that occurred really well before they had any financial stake," Tross said. "It's a serious issue whether they will have financial standing to assert the claims they are asserting."</p><p>Och-Ziff may have come late to the party, but if they wind up with any substantial portion of the $1 billion in fees at stake in the litigation, it would be a giant boon to the firm, which like many hedge funds has fallen on hard times of late.</p><p>Profits have cratered and Och-Ziff was in <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-27/och-ziff-s-shares-stumble-toward-nyse-delisting-territory-at-1">danger in late 2018 of being delisted from the New York Stock Exchange</a> as its stock threatened to dip below $1 a share. </p><p>For Fortress, which was acquired by SoftBank in 2017, this is just the latest in a <a href="https://therealdeal.com/2015/11/12/investors-sue-cwcapital-wells-fargo-over-stuy-town-sale/">series of legal salvos</a> it's faced <a href="https://therealdeal.com/2014/07/03/stuyvesant-lenders-sue-cwcapital-over-takeover/">connected to its handling</a> of the StuyTown development. </p><p>Spokesmen and lawyers for the competing parties declined to comment for this story.</p><h2><strong>The backstory</strong></h2><p>It's helpful to understand how the StuyTown property, which was built in the 1940s and catered toward returning World War II veterans, has changed hands in the past decade to better grasp what these two hedge funds are fighting over. </p><p>In 2006, near the peak of the real-estate bubble, Tishman Speyer and BlackRock bought StuyTown for $5.4 billion, then the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/business/yourmoney/31speyer.html?_r=1&amp;module=inline">largest real-estate deal in US history</a>. But the investment went belly-up as plans to juice revenues met roadblocks and the global property market nosedived, and the investors defaulted on the $3 billion securitized mortgage in 2010.</p><p>CWCapital was tapped as the "special servicer" in charge of managing the property and representing the myriad creditors who were scrambling to recoup their money following the default. Fortress acquired CWCapital that same year for $300 million. </p><p>Eventually, as Manhattan property prices soared and rental income from StuyTown increased, CWCapital brokered a deal to sell the development to Blackstone in 2015 for $5.3 billion.</p><p>Along the way, CWCapital earned hundreds of millions on the special servicing assignment from a variety of fees, according to court filings, including $615 million in penalty interest between the default in 2010 and the sale five years later. Such fees are contractual and normal, according to Tross, though they're eye-popping in this case given the size and circumstances of the deal. </p><p>Trouble with Och-Ziff began brewing a year later.</p><h2>Och-Ziff enters the fray</h2><p>In August 2016, Och-Ziff bought a minority stake in a CDO called Cobalt VR, which was set up as a passive investment fund with no employees in 2007. It was managed by CWCapital and held $3.4 billion in commercial mortgage-backed securities, including a substantial portion of junior StuyTown debt. (Och-Ziff had also previously bought senior notes in the CDO when it was initially launched in 2007, which had been repaid, according to court filings.)</p><p>As the collateral manager for the CDO, CWCapital was essentially its investment adviser and had the ability to appoint the lucrative special servicer jobs, which it gave to its similarly named affiliates. This arrangement was established from the outset in 2007 and agreed upon by all investors in the CDO, according to Fortress' court arguments.</p><p>In December 2017, not long after Och-Ziff bought notes from Cobalt - which over the course of the previous 10 years hadn't raised complaints about CWCapital's actions - the CDO issuer filed suit seeking a portion of the $1.1 billion CWCapital reaped from StuyTown, as well as some other properties, among other claims. </p><p>The complaint, originally filed in federal court and dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, was refiled in New York County court last summer. </p><p>"Had CWC Manager been acting to benefit Cobalt Vr (rather than to line its own pockets), most of those funds would have rightfully gone to Cobalt Vr," the complaint reads. In addition to damages, it wants to kick CWCapital out as the representative that designates a special servicer and install a new one. </p><p>Fortress claims, in court documents, that CWCapital's actions complied with the design and covenants of the CDO, and that Cobalt only filed the suit 10 years after inception at the behest of Och-Ziff, writing: "This is a hedge fund litigation play ... It would be inequitable to allow an after-the-fact litigation play to rewrite the terms of a deal that closed in 2007 and has been administered since then in accordance with the plain terms of those deals, as understood and interpreted by all the relevant parties."</p><p>Lawyers for Cobalt deny accusations that it's "a mere puppet of Och-Ziff."</p><p>Fortress then filed a suit of its own in spring of 2018 against Cobalt and Och-Ziff, arguing the hedge fund's 2016 purchase should be rescinded because, among other claims, it "fraudulently concealed its true intentions" to flout the covenants of the CDO and that it was in compliance with US laws, when it was in the process of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-och-ziff-settlement/och-ziff-reaches-29-million-shareholder-accord-over-africa-bribery-probes-idUSKCN1MC2DS">settling multi-million dollar violations</a> with the US government. </p><p>Fortress claims in the suit it never would have given its consent for the deals otherwise; Och-Ziff says in its motion to dismiss that the claims are meritless.</p><p>Last July, a judge denied Cobalt's motion for preliminary injunction, noting in the ruling that "issues abound as to Cobalt's authority." <span>The Appellate Division affirmed that ruling last week. </span></p><p>While that ruling doesn't necessarily foreshadow the final outcome of these cases, the court's analysis didn't favor Cobalt's claim, Tross said, and that Cobalt's standing in the case remains a significant issue. </p><p>Both of the cases are awaiting oral arguments. </p>

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