The founder and CEO of Chobani has settled a lawsuit filed by his ex-wife, who laid claim to half the $2 billion Greek yogurt empire. Hamdi Ulukaya was once a Turkish immigrant with dreams of making it big in the U.S. food industry. His American-born ex, Dr. Ayse Giray, sued him in 2012 on claims her family lent him $500,000 that helped make his dreams a reality. On April 10, after years of wrangling and a pronouncement by Giray's camp just last month that the parties were no where near an agreement, Ulukaya settled for an unknown sum. Settled: Hamdi Ulukaya, the founder and CEO of Chobani, has settled a lawsuit filed by his ex-wife, who laid claim to half the $2 billion Greek yogurt empire . The settlement came just before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Saliann Scarpulla was due to rule on whether Giray could retroactively be named a shareholder in Chobani's predecessor company, a feta cheese operation called Euphrates. Giray first sued Ulukaya in 2012 for a 53 percent stake in the company. The two were married just two years in the 1990s and Ulukaya's company was not an issue in their divorce, according to the New York Post. Yogurt boom: Giray first sued Ulukaya in 2012 for a 53 percent stake in the company. The two were married just two years in the 1990s and Ulukaya's company was not an issue in their divorce . However, in early 2015, court documents revealed that Giray was basing at least part of her claim on scribbled handwritten notes her lawyers were 'confirmation that monies were provided.' Ulukaya wrote the notes off as mere 'family expenses.' Nonetheless, his camp settled rather than leave themselves open to losing assets worth $1 billion to Giray. But even with this suit behind him, Ulukaya still has business problems ahead of him. Since early this year, Chobani has been considering replacing him as CEO, the New York Post reported, citing people familiar with the matter. One of the primary reasons for the removal of Ulukaya, who founded the company, is a product recall in 2013 that led to negative EBITDA of $87 million in the fourth quarter, the paper reported, citing internal documents it reviewed. The recall was a result of bad design and layout incorporated during the construction of the company's $450 million Idaho factory, and due to lack of training for workers, the Post reported. Ulukaya, who built the factory, kept a lot of his key executives in the dark as they continued to spend freely amid mounting losses and increasing chaos at the factory, the report said. Private-equity firm TPG invested $750 million in the New Berlin, New York-based company last year to save it from the cash crunch arising as a result of the problems at Idaho. Nick of time: The settlement came just before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Saliann Scarpulla was due to rule on whether Giray could retroactively be named a shareholder in Chobani's predecessor company, a feta cheese operation called Euphrates.
Dr. Ayse Giray first sued Hamdi Ulukaya in 2012 on claims her family lent him $500,000 that helped him build the yogurt empire .