Quibby, the defiant streaming service founded by Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, wants to know whether the financing of the patent lawsuit against Eliot Management was motivated by a personal relationship between the hedge fund’s billionaire founder and a top executive.
In a brief filed late on Thursday, Quibb questioned a romantic relationship between Paul Singer, Elliott’s founder and chief executive, and a co-worker, whose son is employed by Echo, an interactive-video company by Quoby Claims trade-secret theft.
“Elliot’s motivation to appear in the lawsuit appears personal,” Dhillin said.
A lawyer filed in Los Angeles federal court sought access to communication between Elliott and Eeco, as well as a deposit from Singer, 76, and his girlfriend, 70-year-old Terry Cassell, who is also Elliott’s head of strategic human resources Huh.
Kessel’s son, Stephen Backer, holds a senior position in Echo, according to the filing.
Backer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Elliott destroyed the filing on Friday as a desperate attempt by Cubby to defend himself from the issue at hand. “The irrelevance of Quibby’s focus on individual cases to advance a false story about Elliott’s role related to this case demonstrates Quibby’s reluctance on the actual underlying legal issues,” Richard Zabel, Elliott’s General Lawyer and Chief Legal Officer.
“Elliott decided to finance this litigation because we firmly believe that Echo would prevail in its claim that Quibby had stolen its intellectual property.”
According to Forbes, an Elliott spokesman declined to comment on Singer’s personal life, a high-powered and notorious private financier and political donor worth an estimated $ 3.6 billion.
A source familiar with the matter told The Post that the CEO’s relationship with Kassel dates back to a court battle between Qubi and the Eko saga. The man said that the couple have been in a romantic relationship for almost a decade, and their relationship is known to Elliot’s people.
As The Post reported last year, Quibby has adopted an unusual way of fighting patent litigation by hiring private investigators to dig up dirt on Singer and Echo founder Yoni Balloch.
Ex-Echo employees, who made calls with Quibby’s private eye, said investigators focused not on technology but on Baloch’s management style, Echo’s work culture and internal disputes that are running beneath the surface.
In March 2020 Eko sued the quiz over the app’s “turnstile” feature, which allowed viewers to play different videos, depending on how they’re holding their phone – vertically or horizontally. From Eko claimed a feature infringed in its technology, which Quibi has denied.
Qubby, launched in April during the height of the epidemic in April, was recently marked as Hollywood’s biggest flop in memory.
But the lawsuit is making its way through the court and controlling the suit for Singer Elliott, Echo, which gave the hedge fund an equity stake.
“The discovery will reveal whether Elliott’s belief in Echo’s claims is based on evidence or is based on construction and an individual side,” said Quoby’s filing.
In a filing filed earlier this week, Queen argued the subpoena Singer and Cassell. Elliott has opposed those efforts.
Tit-for-Tate offers a rare glimpse into Singer’s personal life. Professionally, he is known for going to extreme lengths to make good on his investment, including the time of 2012, when Elliott recaptured a historic Argentine naval vessel into some $ 600 million bond , Which was purchased by default in Argentina in 2001. .
Elliott is also a major player in what is known as litigation finance, or financing lawsuits to collect on wins.
Katgenberg and Quabi’s partner Meg Whitman raised $ 1.75 billion from investors for Quib Jartstart, which offered highly-produced shows under 10 minutes targeted at on-the-go consumers. Quiby attracted stars such as Liam Hemsworth, Jennifer Lopez and Kevin Hart for episodes of her short look, as well as investing in the likes of Disney and NBCuniversal.
But it launched during the epidemic, when people stopped competing or even waited for coffee as before. The service continued to struggle to benefit viewers and advertisers and began postponing payments.
The app sold its content library last month to video-streaming company Roku for less than $ 100 million.
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