Ex-William Morris head Jim Wiatt sues Ken Starr, lawyer for $2M lost in Ponzi scheme

Former William Morris Agency chief Jim Wiatt and his wife, Elizabeth, are suing the law firm that represented them and Ken Starr, the money manager whose giant Ponzi scheme was exposed this year.

Wiatt, currently an adviser to AOL, said in a statement that he has filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit seeking damages from Winston & Strawn and its former partner Jonathan Bristol.

Starr pleaded guilty in September to defrauding scores of celebrities including Annie Leibovitz and Uma Thurman, out of millions of dollars.

The defendants facilitated the theft of around $2 million from Wiatt, the suit, filed in Newark Federal Court, alleges.

“It was bad enough that Ken Starr defrauded his clients, but what makes this even more egregious is that Bristol — a prominent partner of a prominent firm — abused his client relationships with the Wiatts,” Wiatt lawyer David Stone said.

Bristol has been indicted by federal prosecutors and charged in a civil suit by the Securities and Exchange Commission.