A sports celebrity who previously sued a woman claiming she was threatening to release a tape of them having sex unless he paid her $2.5 million filed another complaint against her and her former attorney Friday, seeking $1 million in damages.
In December, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant’ ordered Elizabeth Ruiz to surrender the tape to another judge. She did so a few days later, according to court papers for the plaintiff, who filed both of his court actions anonymously, using the moniker “Doe.”
Friday’s lawsuit alleges extortion and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage and seeks damages from Ruiz and her former attorney, Corey Boddie. Neither Ruiz nor Boddie could be immediately reached.
On Jan. 24, Ruiz gave an interview to “Hollywood Unlocked” in which she said she loved Kim Kardashian, that she could “do no wrong in her eyes” and that her talent is “making money,” according to Doe’s court papers.
“She (Ruiz) praised Kardashian for having used a sex tape to make her family famous and wealthy,” Doe’s court papers state.
Although the lawsuits were filed anonymously, the plaintiff has been identified in a variety of publications — including TMZ.com, Forbes and Maxim — and by Colorado media outlets as Denver Broncos star linebacker Von Miller, 27.
A celebrity website turned down Ruiz’s offer to sell it the tape, according to the plaintiff’s court papers, which say Doe “has worked hard his entire life to hone his skills and become one of the most talented people in the United States and the world.”
He also has received many honors and accolades and “is widely recognized as the world’s best at his job,” according to his court papers, which state that his ability to benefit from his fame “depends on the appeal of his persona to many different people … including families and children.”
“He cannot count on this appeal if Ruiz exposes images of him in the most intimate of physical acts between a man and a woman, done in private and intended to remain private,” his court papers say.
Ruiz has stated that “she wants to be the next Kim Kardashian” and hopes to be catapulted to fame and fortune with the sex tape at Doe’s expense, the plaintiff’s court papers say. Kardashian herself was the subject of a sex tape with former boyfriend Ray J.
Doe and Ruiz met in Cancun in June 2016 and she used her cell phone to record the two of them having sex, but “agreed that she would keep the recording private,” Doe’s court papers say.
Ruiz responded “gotcha” when he reminded her after they returned to the United States that he wanted the recording destroyed, the suit alleges.
But in September, a “noted” sex tape broker told Doe’s lawyer that Ruiz desired the broker’s assistance in selling the video, the suit alleges. The next month, an attorney for Ruiz told Boddie that the defendant wanted the plaintiff to buy the tape, or else she would “reserve her right to exploit the recording,” the complaint alleges.
Boddie said his client had shown the tape to him, her mother and the sex tape broker, according to Doe’s court papers.
Another of Doe’s lawyers contacted Boddie and the latter said that regardless of the law, Ruiz wanted $2.5 million from Doe or she would release the recording, the suit alleges.
The plaintiff claims Boddie called his client “unpredictable” and said she “may do anything with the recording if she does not get $2.5 million.” Ruiz’s attorney also said there was a copy of the sex tape he made on an external thumb drive, the suit alleges.
— City News Service