Guess?'s Marciano must pay $55M for libel

Bloomberg News//August 28, 2009//

Listen to this article

Guess? Inc. co-founder Georges Marciano must pay $55 million in damages for attempting to ruin the reputation of his former accountant, a California judge ruled.

Elizabeth Allen White in Los Angeles issued the libel damages in a ruling Wenesday, a publicist for Marciano’s former accountant, Gary Iskowitz, said in an e-mailed statement.

“Marciano set out on a premeditated plan to ruin Gary Iskowitz,” Iskowitz’s lawyer, Stephen J. Tully, said in the statement. “The court found that he used threats, intimidation and accusations he knew were completely false in more than 30 letters and e-mails that were sent to public agencies, banks and business associates of Gary Iskowitz.”

Last month, a Los Angeles jury determined Marciano must pay $370 million in damages to five former employees who were defamed and suffered emotional distress after he sued them for embezzlement.