Fired Executive Countersues Donna Karan, Claims Fraud

Donna Karan Co.’s former chief financial officer sued the fashion design company in New York State Supreme Court, accusing it of firing him because he had insisted on disclosing that the company overstated its 1993 earnings.

Former CFO David Golden filed his lawsuit five days after the company had sued him, accusing him of gross negligence and lewd statements toward the fashion design firm’s female executives.

Golden’s lawsuit, filed in Manhattan, charges Donna Karan Co. with slander, breach of contract and fraud. He is seeking more than $60 million in damages.

Golden’s suit differs sharply from the company’s complaint as to why he was fired after less than a month on the job.

While his former employer accused him of preparing a shoddy financial plan that led Donna Karan Co.’s lenders to place the New York-based company in technical default under its revolving credit line, Golden portrayed himself as demanding full disclosure of the fashion design company’s financial troubles to its creditors.

Golden’s lawsuit makes no mention of the company’s allegations that he made inappropriate statements with sexual overtones to his female co-workers.

In the lawsuit, the former CFO alleges that he was fired a few days after a meeting in which Donna Karan President Stephen Ruzow said the company had overstated its fiscal 1993 earnings by understating some expenses by $1 million.