‘Hoodwinked’: Arkansas man suing Las Vegas dancer for $38.5M after alleged fraud scheme
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — A Washington County man has filed a lawsuit against a Las Vegas dancer after he claimed a fraud scheme lasting nearly a decade cost more than $35 million, according to court documents.
The lawsuit said Fred Brunner was going through a divorce in 2014 and went to a gentleman’s club in Las Vegas to “smoke a cigar and have a few cocktails.”
While at the club, he met Melanie Sterling who was reportedly a dancer.
The lawsuit said the woman allegedly made “a significant amount of money off of Brunner that night.”
The lawsuit goes on to say the woman learned Brunner was “far wealthier than her normal patrons—wealthy enough to change her life.”
According to the lawsuit, she would reportedly communicate with Brunner daily trying to create a fake relationship to get as much money out of him as possible, according to the lawsuit.
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Brunner claims over ten years, she “hoodwinked [him] into thinking they were in an exclusive, romantic relationship.”
The lawsuit said during that time, she accepted multiple trips and a home that was funded by Brunner. He claimed he would send money to her at her request.
Sterling reportedly received and took control of more than $3 million from Brunner, according to the lawsuit.
While Brunner believed he was in an exclusive relationship with the woman, the lawsuit said she was in a romantic relationship with another man in Las Vegas. The lawsuit also alleges the woman gave some of Brunner’s money to the other man.
“All along, she had no intention of following through on her representations, doing only that necessary to keep [the] plaintiff from becoming suspicious of her actual intentions,” the lawsuit said.
Brunner is seeking at least $3.5 million in compensatory damages and $35 million in punitive damages.
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