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On February 29, former “Vanderpump Rules” star Rachel Leviss filed an explosive lawsuit against her former co-stars Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix for eavesdropping, revenge porn, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. At the center of Leviss’ lawsuit is Sandoval’s recording of “sexually explicit videos of her without her knowledge or consent, which were then distributed, disseminated and publicly discussed by a scorned woman seeking revenge, catalyzing the scandal”.
Although Leviss is not suing Bravo, NBCUniversal or Evolution, the production company behind “Vanderpump Rules,” the lawsuit, filed by her lawyers Bryan Freedman and Mark Geragos, claims that these companies “cleaned up the story to ensure that Leviss was seen as the arch-villain.”
But in contradiction to part of Leviss’s claim, Variety has reviewed an email from his former lawyer dated March 6, 2023. In the letter, sent to Evolution’s parent company, MGM, Leviss’ then-lawyer insisted that “the right thing to do” is No to air any discussion about the Leviss recording.
“Bringing an illegally obtained recording to life by allowing it to be discussed live would be the equivalent of rewarding someone for robbing a bank or shooting someone,” wrote Lawrence M. Kopeikin, who represented Leviss during this period. “We hope that Evolution and Bravo have enough character and restraint to not air any discussion about this illegally obtained recording.”
When asked to comment on this apparent discrepancy, Freedman, Leviss’ current attorney, wrote: “You clearly don’t understand what this case is about? If you understood the actual legal claim, you wouldn’t be asking questions about a letter sent to a production company that isn’t even named as a defendant in the lawsuit. This case concerns Revenge Porn arising from the illegal recording and dissemination of a sex video without the knowledge or consent of our client. It is not only a civil offense but probably a crime. Let me know if you want to ask any questions about the case that is actually being litigated.”
When contacted by VarietyKopeikin confirmed that he no longer represents Leviss, and spokespeople for NBCUniversal and MGM declined to comment.
The Leviss and Sandoval video in question was briefly mentioned in the “Vanderpump Rules” season 10 finale, which was filmed spontaneously after news of Leviss and Sandoval’s affair broke in early March 2023.
In the May 17 episode, without detailing its contents, Madix describes (using “Raquel,” Leviss’s former preferred name) how she found in Sandoval’s camera roll “a screen recording of Raquel and Tom on Facetime.” . Her discovery served as the catalyst for the so-called Scandoval, the cheating scandal that propelled “Vanderpump Rules” into the zeitgeist and ratings stratosphere last year. The nature of the video Madix had found was not widely known until March 7, 2023, when a TMZ story appeared with the headline. “’VANDERPUMP RULES’ RAQUEL LEVISS INTIMATE FACETIME SESSION WITH TOM …She Says It Was Recorded Without Permission” went viral, after cast members received letters warning them not to share the video.
In Leviss’ Feb. 29 lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, his attorneys claim that a key element of a scene between Leviss and Sandoval was removed, at Sandoval’s insistence. According to the lawsuit, during a scene in Leviss’ apartment on March 4, 2023, “Leviss confronted Sandoval for secretly recording pornographic videos of her and storing them unprotected on her phone” on camera.
“Sandoval had not only invaded her privacy and violated her trust, but had also left her enormously vulnerable to a nightmare scenario of leaked videos on the Internet,” the lawsuit reads. “Sandoval responded to Leviss’s fury with cowardice and lies, falsely claiming that he had obtained her permission to record her. However, seeing that Leviss did not agree, Sandoval finally reluctantly admitted and sheepishly apologized.”
The lawsuit cites media reports that Sandoval threatened to stop filming unless he was “granted editing rights to the scene.” Surprisingly, Bravo and Evolution fulfilled their demand. The scene was selectively edited to omit any mention of Sandoval’s illicit recording or Leviss’ lack of consent.”
The lawsuit continues. “This was part of a pattern and practice of Bravo and Evolution throwing Leviss under the bus in favor of Sandoval,” he claims. “Recording someone performing sexual acts without their consent is a crime, and Sandoval appears to have admitted this on camera. Portraying the confrontation as it actually happened instead of protecting the sleazy Sandoval would not only have been truthful, it would have also made for “good TV.” But Bravo and Evolution apparently decided that Leviss would be their scapegoat.”
In the scene that unfolded in the May 17 finale, filmed on March 4, in their apartment, Leviss and Sandoval commiserate about what happened, express regret for how they could have done things differently, and agree not to kiss in front of each other. to the camera. They then profess their love for each other. “I feel so isolated,” Leviss says as Sandoval hugs her. After the scene ends, a chyron says, “After filming this scene, Raquel turned off her phone and was not seen or heard from for weeks.”
The March 6, 2023 letter from Leviss’ then-attorney begins by acknowledging that the secret romance between Leviss and Sandoval would appear on the show and would be “the topic of on-camera discussion among the cast of ‘Vanderpump Rules.’ “
Kopeikin then informs the company that Sandoval had “illegally recorded an intimate exchange over Facetime,” which is illegal under California law. It adds that they believe that “one or more cast members have shared this recording with each other, which is a violation of several California statutes, including, but not limited to, Section 647(J)(4) of the California Penal Code (the called ‘revenge porn’). ‘ law).”
The letter goes on to say that they “know that Bravo would not broadcast any portion of this recording (whether blurred, pixelated, or otherwise obscured) as doing so could expose Evolution/MGM and Bravo to potential civil and criminal liability.” But Kopeikin tells the company that it is “inappropriate for Evolution and Bravo to air any discussion among the cast of this illegally obtained footage. “Here we are making a distinction between the discussion about the affair between Raquel and Tom Sandoval, which we understand will be discussed on the show, and the difference from a discussion about an illegally obtained recording that we believe should not be discussed on the show.”
Addressing the MGM executive, Kopeikin writes: “We hope that Evolution and Bravo have enough character and restraint to not air any discussion about this illegally obtained recording. This is especially important given the nature of this illegally obtained recording. “Once you have had the opportunity to discuss this with Evolution and Bravo, we would appreciate your confirmation that discussion of this illegally obtained recording will not air on the show.”
Kopeikin concludes with this.
“Thank you in advance to you and the people at Evolution and Bravo for your understanding and for doing the right thing.”