Harper's Ken Silverstein has an interesting story on a Washington firm that seems to be aiding the cause of the first daughter of Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov. What he doesn't mention is that the firm, GlobalOptions, is now apparently suing its former partner involved with the Uzbek account. As Legal Times' Emma Schwartz reported April 30 (sub. only):

Neil Livingstone has been the voice of Global Options since he founded the corporate strategy group in 1997 to advise companies and business leaders on industrial espionage, internal investigations, and hostage recovery. But Livingstone's January exit from the company has devolved into a bitter battle in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Global Options sued Livingstone in March, saying he violated his severance agreement by soliciting clients for his D.C. startup, ExecutiveAction. The solicitations, Global Options lawyer Brian Shaunnessy said in court papers, defamed his client by claiming its recent listing as a publicly traded entity created "constraints."

Livingstone fired back in court filings last week, saying his separation came after "more than a year long deterioration" of his relationship with executive Harvey Schiller "over significant differences about the direction of management." Livingstone claims that in lieu of a severance package, both sides agreed he "would proceed to open a new firm," according to court papers filed by his lawyer, Richard Heideman of Heideman Nudelman & Kalik.

Not clear whether the Uzbek account is among those that went over to ExecutiveAction LLC.

Update: Ken does mention the lawsuit, although it seems in the editing to have been relegated to the footnotes. It's there now.

Posted by Laura at May 11, 2007 05:25 PM