Jeff Kwatinetz

Kwatinetz was born in Brooklyn, New York to a Jewish family and lived in Brooklyn until the third grade, when his family moved to Marlboro Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey. He graduated from Marlboro High School. He attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and was chapter president of the Delta Upsilon fraternity. While President of Delta Upsilon University, Kwatinetz managed the band, Security, which did local shows in Evanston and Chicago, IL. He graduated from Harvard Law School with a J.D. degree. ==Career==

Jeff Kwatinetz started his managing career with Chicago power pop trio, Material Issue. He attributes learning a lot about managing and the music industry to the band. Material Issue was Kwatinetz first band signed to a major label (Mercury). In addition, Kwatinetz claims that Material Issue and him invented, and had, the first Radio Show. Kwatinetz, partially due to his love of the film The Graduate was the one who had the idea for the cover of Mrs. Robinson, he originally wanted Material Issue to do the cover, but due to label conflicts, The Lemonheads recorded the track instead. He has worked with many celebrities, including music acts Backstreet Boys, Jennifer Lopez, and Kelly Clarkson and actors Samuel L. Jackson, Vin Diesel and Colleen Ballinger. Kwatinetz worked for Gallin-Morey Associates and he and Michael Green left to found The Firm in 1997. Kwatinetz and Green sued their former employer Sandy Gallin alleging sexual harassment. The lawsuits led to Hollywood seeing Kwatinetz as a resolute and sometimes contentious dealmaker. He has been successful in breaking, developing, and managing the careers of artists such as KoRn, Limp Bizkit, Backstreet Boys, Snoop Dogg, Enrique Iglesias, Vin Diesel, Ice Cube, Kelly Clarkson, OneRepublic, Rachel Weisz, Audioslave, Pete Yorn, Puddle of Mudd, and many more. In 2001, Kwatinetz filed a lawsuit against Robert F. X. Sillerman, founder of SFX Entertainment, accusing him of misappropriating The Firm's business plan after pulling out of acquiring 100% of The Firm. Later in 2001, Kwatinetz apologised to Sillerman and agreed to pay his legal costs. Kwatinetz eventually acquired Sillerman's 16% interest in The Firm. Prospect Park and relaunch of The Firm Kwatinetz left The Firm in late 2008 and founded the media production, record label and talent management company Prospect Park. He relaunched The Firm in August 2015. Kwatinetz serves as executive producer of the F/X comedy Wilfred and USA Network’s medical comedy, Royal Pains. In 2013, Prospect Park launched its own web channel, The Online Network, with revivals of the long-running daytime soap operas One Life to Live and All My Children. Later that year, it filed a lawsuit against ABC, the licensee of those series, and the Prospect Park Networks division filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2014. The production and music divisions remained unaffected, and in 2015 were positioned as subordinate entities to a reactivated The Firm, Inc. Civil Rights Law In late 2017, Kwatinetz began working with attorney Mark Geragos on numerous civil rights cases. Kwatinetz graduated top of his class at Harvard Law School in 1991. In 2001, he was awarded the ACLU Torch of Liberty for his "commitment to Liberty and Justice for All." == Controversies ==

Relationship with Steve Bannon Kwatinetz has had a relationship with political strategist Steve Bannon, who served as Kwatinetz' partner in the Firm. Kwatinetz defended Bannon in an editorial piece in The Hollywood Reporter, saying that "he is not a racist." Five Finger Death Punch In 2016, Kwatinetz filed for an injunction against client Five Finger Death Punch alleging a breach of contract. The band and The Firm settled after 18 months of litigation. Five Finger Death Punch's recordings are now one of Prospect Park's last remaining and most valuable assets still under contract." BIG3 Legal Issues Kwatinetz has been involved in many lawsuits in relation to his BIG3 Basketball Tournament. Former league commission Roger Mason sued Kwatinetz and the BIG3 after being fired for alleged corruption. He claimed Kwatinetz fostered a "hostile and racist" environment and "has repeatedly referred to black athletes as 'rich n-––s.'" Kwatinetz denied the claims. The case was settled in an October settlement. Another employee, Kainoa Henry, was fired from his position and later "filed the breach of contract complaint Monday, alleging he was unfairly forced to resign his chief creative officer job in part because co-founder Jeff Kwatinetz regularly referenced — and praised — right-wing firebrand Steve Bannon while running the three-on-three hoops league featuring retired NBA stars." ==See also==