A judge has warned that unless a lawsuit is served within the next three months, she will dismiss as a defendant a man who allegedly told a woman he is the real Kenny Chesney in order to con her into loaning him money in 2021.
The defendants in the Van Nuys Superior Court lawsuit brought by Realtor Patricia Linson are Kenny Chesney — but not the entertainer — and Nayri Apelian, who Linson says had an impressive business background, making the plaintiff more confident that she would be making the loan to the real country singer. The Chesney who spoke to Linson that Apelian was his partner, according to the suit.
However, Linson’s process servers have not yet presented the suit to the person claiming to be Chesney and on Tuesday, Judge Virginia Keeny said he will be dismissed as a defendant if he is not served by the next hearing on March 4. Meanwhile, Apelian has filed for bankruptcy, placing a stay on the part of the case against her.
The lawsuit was originally filed in March 2022 and amended Sept. 7. Linson’s causes of action include fraud, breach of contract and unjust enrichment and she seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
Linson was contacted in February 2021 through Linkedin by a man claiming to be Chesney, her court papers state. Through subsequent conversations, the man convinced Linson into believing he was the actual singer, that his accounts were temporarily frozen and that if Linson advanced him money, he would repay her with interest within six months, Linson’s court papers state.
“What ultimately gave (Linson) the confidence to loan Chesney money was when he brought defendant Nayri Apelian into the picture,” Linson’s court papers state.
Linson’s subsequent research verified that Apelian was someone who appeared through the defendant’s website and social media to be “a very credible and reputable person,” according to Linson’s court papers.
In April 2021, Linson agreed to loan Chesney $310,000 with all the money to be funneled through Apelian because the defendants said that any funds sent to Chesney would be seized, Linson’s court papers state.
Linson initially sent $90,000 and the remainder in Bitcoin. She desired to meet with Chesney, so she flew to Tennessee after the two agreed on a location, according to Linson’s court papers, which further state that Chesney was a “no-show” and while she was still at the airport he claimed his attorney had just told him he could not meet Linson because it would “put her at risk.”
Linson became concerned she was being scammed and she hired a private investigator to surveil Apelian’s home, according to Linson’s court papers. The investigator reported seeing a man going in and out of Apelian’s home house on several occasions who appeared to be the real Chesney, Linson’s court papers state.
But when the loan became due in June 2021, Chesney said he was unable to pay, Linson’s court papers state.
“Frankly, even to this day (Linson) is not 100% certain whether or not she was communicating with the real Kenny Chesney because of the inside information that he had, but at this juncture believes that (he) was someone portraying to be Kenny Chesney in order to fraudulently entice her into loaning him money,” Linson’s court papers state.
Linson is seeking $507,000, representing the principal plus interest, penalties and nearly $57,000 in taxes that she had to withdraw from her 401k account to make the loan, her court papers state.