Texas financier James Dondero says judge Stacey Jernigan used him as inspiration for her latest legal crime thriller Hedging Death after being assigned to his bankruptcy case

A Texas financier is fighting to get the judge assigned to his bankruptcy case removed from it, claiming she used him as the inspiration for her latest crime thriller novel. 

James Dondero, who ran Highland Capital, says Judge Stacey Jernigan can no longer act impartially on his case. 

He claims she used him as the basis of her character Cade Graham, a hedge funder on trial for fraud in Hedging Death, her latest book. 

Graham’s story is more dramatic than Dondero’s. 

After being suspected of fraud the character stages his own death and goes missing in Mexico. There are ties to the cartel and a mysterious biotech company to thicken the plot too. 

Judge Jernigan with another judicial novel. She says she had done nothing wrong 

Financier James Dondero claims the judge can no longer act impartially in his bankruptcy case

Jernigan’s latest book, Hedging Death, was released in 2022. Her first novel, He Watches All My Paths, was self-published in  2019 

While Dondero’s real life isn’t as gripping, he says Jernigan took the name of his old firm – Ranger – and used it in the book. 

Her passion for the subject and unkind way of characterizing his industry also shows she cannot act impartially, he claims. 

‘The impartiality of judges—and the appearance of impartiality—is a critical component of the federal judiciary. We are well past the point that a reasonable person would see bias,’ he told The Wall Street Journal this week in his latest attempt to have her removed from the case.

He has been fighting for a new judge since at least March. 

The book was self-published in March last year. 

Jernigan and Dondero first came across each other in 2019, when the bankruptcy case filed against him and Highland Capital was moved from Delaware to Texas. 

He was accused of misappropriating funds at the firm, which once controlled around $40billon. 

Dondero’s investors and former partners were among those suing him. 

It wasn’t his first brush with a public court battle. 

Like the judge in her books, Jernigan is married to a police officer and has two King Charles Cavalier spaniels

Judge Stacey Jernigan, a judicial crime enthusiast, not only oversees cases but also writes her own books about a Texas judge whose life bears striking similarities to her own

In 2013, he and his ex-wife were locked in a bitter divorce, and he was also previously sued by former employees who, according to The Daily Beast, labeled him a ‘megalomaniac’. 

His former partners at Highland say his attempts to have Jernigan removed from the case represent his litigiousness. 

Jernigan defended herself by in a March written opinion which pointed out how many other judges have written fictional works about their field of law. 

Like the judge in her books, Jernigan is married to a police officer and has two King Charles Cavalier spaniels.