Mariah Carey claims her assistant “deliberately” destroyed pertinent proof of their ongoing authorized battle over allegations of blackmail.
Carey is suing ex-employee Lianna Shakhnazarian, aka Lianna Azarian, claiming she tried to make use of “intimate movies” of the celebrity to land an $eight million pay day.
Shakhnazarian, who’s countersuing Carey for wrongful termination and harassment, has denied any engagement within the pop star’s extortion claims, however now the court docket combat has turn out to be even messier, amid allegations of sabotage.
“Shakhnazarian has tried to keep away from legal responsibility by deliberately destroying at the least three classes of related proof,” Carey’s lawyer, Casey Laffey, claims in new paperwork lodged in New York’s Manhattan Supreme Courtroom.
Particular particulars concerning the proof in query have been closely redacted within the public submitting, however Laffey insists the previous staffmember’s alleged actions have “irrevocably annoyed Carey’s means to find out whether or not Shakhnazarian transmitted the recordings to different third-parties.”
The deleted recordsdata additionally apparently make it troublesome for Carey to problem claims suggesting the one-time assistant had the musician’s consent to movie the footage on the heart of the case.
The singer is now looking for permission to have copies manufactured from the contents of Shakhnazarian’s telephone to make sure she doesn’t “withhold or destroy” every other potential proof, reviews the New York Put up’s Web page Six.
Shakhnazarian’s authorized representatives have but to answer the allegations.