Alex Rodriguez is going to have to address allegations of racketeering and embezzlement made against him by the brother of his ex-wife, Cynthia Scurtis, after a judge denied his request to have the claims dismissed.
According to the Daily Mail, almost seven years after the initial $50 million lawsuit was filed, a Miami judge ruled last Thursday that Rodriguez will still have to face allegations in an amended complaint filed by Constantine Scurtis, who has accused the baseball player of “criminal activity” during an allegedly fraudulent takeover of the real estate empire they built together. The judge did add that “no further amendments will be permitted” to Scurtis’s case and “the issues to be tried will be framed by, and only by, the claims raised in plaintiffs’ current complaint.” That means Rodriguez will now have to address those allegations of racketeering and embezzlement at a trial set for August 2.
According to court documents, following his marriage to Cynthia in 2002, Rodriguez and his new brother-in-law launched a real estate business, with Rodriguez putting up 95% of the capital and Scurtis taking on the other 5%, plus a 3% acquisition fee on properties. By 2008, the pair had a billion-dollar business on their hands. But Scurtis claims that in 2005 Rodriguez convinced him to defer those 3% acquisition fees so that the money could remain liquid within the company, a move he says cost him $8 million. He also alleges that Rodriguez took his name off some of the individual LLCs they created for specific real estate projects, once again bilking him out of substantial earnings until Scurtis was ultimately “fraudulently shoved out of the real estate empire and denied profits” following A-Rod’s divorce from his sister.
A week after the plaintiff filed his most recent set of allegations, Rodriguez’s legal team argued that the complaint “continues to contain impertinent and scandalous statements clearly intended to harass and prejudice the defendants. In amending his pleading, Scurtis has taken the opportunity to sensationalize this litigation solely to publicly humiliate, impugn, and disparage Mr. Rodriguez and others.” They also told the Daily Mail, “Sadly, Scurtis expanded his claims yet again to include and publicly sensationalize additional allegations as part of his scheme to impugn and shakedown Rodriguez for money which Scurtis is not entitled to and to escape repayment of substantial monies owed which is the subject of a countersuit against him. To be clear, we view Scurtis’s claims as baseless and absolutely dispute liability for all claims asserted.”
Those claims include “embezzlement, obtaining property by fraud, insurance fraud, forgery, mail fraud, and wire fraud,” as well as “breaches of fiduciary duty, breaches of contract, and illegal and fraudulent pattern of criminal activity,” all of which “have caused Scurtis many millions of dollars in damages.” According to the Daily Mail, should these civil racketeering allegations ever be put to a criminal investigation, Rodriguez could face a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in jail and a large portion of his personal wealth would also be seized under the Racketeering and Corrupt Organizations Act.
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