Brad Pitt lawsuit thrown out of court after woman sues actor over web scam

Brad Pitt has beaten a bizarre lawsuit filed against him in the US courts, after a woman was conned in an online scam by someone posing as the actor.

Kelli Christina, a businesswoman from Texas, claimed that Pitt should be doing more to protect his fans from scammers, and wanted $100,000 (£76,000) in compensation.

Christina says she was scammed out of $40,000 by the imposter, with whom she developed a close relationship, even to the point of 'discussions of marriage'.

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The scammer posing as Pitt had asked Christina to organise a series of five fundraisers in aid of his Make It Right Foundation, which was established after Hurricane Katrina to construct new homes for those who lost theirs in the 2005 disaster.

But each event was cancelled at the last minute, with the scammer then retaining the agreed attendance fees.

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The case has now been thrown out of court, a judge finding in favour of Pitt's motion to dismiss the case, branding it 'meritless'.

In an emailed statement to PageSix.com, Christina, a healthcare CEO from Plano, said that she plans to appeal against the decision, because the real Pitt didn’t help despite the scammer using his name.

“Brad Pitt ignored all (my problems for) a year and a half. He was contacted (about the ordeal) at Make It Right, Plan B Entertainment (production company), his Los Angeles home and his Beverly Hills attorney (in) the summer of 2019,” she said.

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“All problems (were) ignored and yet it's his name and reputation (being used to defraud people).”

A source familiar with the case told The Daily Mail in October: “'This is a sad case of someone who was the victim of an online celebrity internet scam that had nothing to do with the actual celebrity. Hopefully others can learn from this unfortunate situation.”

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