Oprah sued for $180M
Apparently this is the week to sue a celeb. Lindsay Lohan is under fire, then Dr. Phil and now Oprah. A Louisiana man filed a lawsuit against the queen of all talk shows for allegedly making false statements about him that led the FBI to arrest him for extortion.
Keifer Bonvillain (now, come on, that name is begging for an FBI arrest) is seeking $180 million in damages from Oprah, her attorney and the FBI in federal court.
He was arrested back in December 2006 after he allegedly recorded a phone conversation with an employee of Harpo Productions, Oprah’s company, and told a company associate that he planned to publish a book based on the recordings. Bonvillain claimed to have offers from publishers of up to $3 million, according to the FBI.
When yet another Oprah associate agreed to pay him $1.5 million not to publish, then wired him $3,000 and arranged to meet him, the FBI arrested him.
Somehow Bonvillain claims he was doing everything he could to avoid doing something illegal.
The charges were dismissed last year in exchange for the accused extortionist paying $3,000 in restitution, undergo drug testing and complete 50 hours of community service).
He claims the whole thing tarnished his good name (again – um, Bonvillain – I think that damage was already done.
“There was substantial damage done to my name and reputation on a world level,” he wrote in the suit. “The extent of my damages is vast.”
Oprah’s lawyer, Chip Babcock, denied the allegations, of course.
“And we know that this whole episode started when the plaintiff wiretapped a Harpo employee in California,” he said. “We advised (Bonvillain) that we believe that wiretapping was illegal, and this case will give us an opportunity to determine whether we were right about that.”
Dude, when this is thrown out, go sue your parents for the crap name.
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