John Overdeck’s girlfriend called police to his New Jersey mansion at least eight times during his escalating $6.2 billion divorce battle, according to resurfaced reports.
The calls to the 6,000-square-foot Short Hills estate — which the Two Sigma co-founder, 56, once shared with estranged wife Laura Overdeck — occurred between April 2023 and June 2024, police reports and bodycam footage show. No charges were filed in any of the incidents.
In October 2023, the unnamed woman dialed 911 during a quarrel inside the marital mansion, which the couple purchased two decades earlier for $3.64 million. John Overdeck greeted officers at the door and described his situation with the complaining woman as “volatile,” according to body-worn camera footage cited by Bloomberg.
He detailed several incidents in which the woman had accessed a file related to Two Sigma on his computer — and another where she sent the firm an email, the footage reportedly shows.
In another 2023 call, the girlfriend phoned cops for a wellness check on Overdeck, who had been sitting inside his car for four hours. The billionaire allegedly told officers that he was sad over a canceled trip with some pals, and summed up his relationship with the woman who summoned them in two words.
“It’s complicated,” he said.
Laura Overdeck, 54, filed for divorce in March 2022, citing “irreconcilable differences” for a period of at least six months. The couple married in 2002 without a prenuptial agreement during the infancy of what would become an $80 billion quantitative hedge fund.
She is seeking 35% of Overdeck’s stake in Two Sigma, worth about $6.2 billion — after turning down his offer of more than $600 million. She is also demanding an equal share of their home, hundreds of millions in treasury funds, their foundation, and restoration as an equal partner in trusts established for their three children.
The case has become one of the largest contested divorces in New Jersey history.
Inside New Jersey Superior Court Wednesday, Judge Bruce Buechler admonished attorneys on both sides for wasting trial time arguing over redactions of evidence instead of resolving disputes beforehand.
“Are we using the trial time very effectively, in the court’s view?” The judge asked. “Absolutely not.”
Earlier that day, John Overdeck tried to argue that public disclosures could hurt Two Sigma, claiming they’ve already lost investors.
“I think that will actually harm the company as well. I think it has to some degree it already has,” he said.
Theresa Lyons, attorney for Laura Overdeck, pressed him on the point.
“Isn’t it true that since the complaint for divorce has been filed, and since all of the press, the amount of assets under management at Two Sigma has actually increased?” Lyons asked.
“Yes, that’s correct,” he replied.
Because of a ruling by Judge Buechler in April that found Laura Overdeck had violated discovery orders, her pleadings were dismissed — which means she can only make her case by grilling her husband on cross-examination. Her tactics had included snooping on his computer and snapping cell phone pics of his emails discussing legal strategy, according to court findings.
In the viral moment that preceded the police calls, the Overdecks’ marriage collapsed amid revelations of John’s early planning to protect assets. Laura Overdeck discovered a notebook in his home office containing the words “Divorce-proof,” written in 2018. She claims he subsequently moved joint assets “exceeding several billion dollars” into irrevocable Wyoming trusts to shield them from her, with help from Two Sigma employees and law firm Seward & Kissel. John Overdeck emphatically denies this, stating in a sworn statement that no marital assets — “not one dime” — were transferred into the Wyoming trusts, and that his notes referred to protecting future generations from potential divorces.
The divorce proceedings are expected to continue in Newark.