‘My Unorthodox Life’ star Julia Haart has filed a lawsuit against ex Silvio Scaglia in the latest legal salvo in the couple’s bitter affairs and romance, according to new court documents.
The former ‘ultra-Orthodox’ Jew turned businesswoman claims Scaglia – with whom she is embroiled in a rocky divorce – owes her hundreds of millions of dollars for running modeling firm Elite World Group and for her actions in society, which she says helped her grow at least 10 times, according to her lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court filed Friday.
The 51-year-old Netflix reality star claims her ex-husband, an Italian businessman, is a “liar and a con man” and not really a billionaire, according to his lawsuit.
“Scaglia’s so-called wealth is nothing more than smoke and mirrors,” the filing charges.
In fact, Haart claims that when she married him in 2019, he “lost” all of the roughly $711 million he had earned from his investment in Italian telecommunications company Fastweb, according to the lawsuit. And “all of his other ventures since 2011 have failed,” according to court documents.
Then, before their wedding, “Scaglia begged Haart” to become CEO of EWG, which she led to success by increasing its value from $70 million to between $700 million and $1.1 billion, according to court documents.
Scaglia, 63, struggled financially while trying to maintain his lavish lifestyle. So he took out a second mortgage on their $65 million Manhattan block for $10 million — on top of the original $30 million mortgage, according to the suit.
And Scaglia asked Haart to give up a paycheck in his role as CEO and instead he would make her 50% owner of EWG’s parent company Freedom Holding, Inc. and she would receive a 2% fee. for his work, the filing of claims.
According to the suit.
Amid their divorce, Scaglia ousted Haart as CEO, then sued her claiming she stole $850,000 from EWG and also accusing her of invoicing hundreds of thousands of dollars. personal expenses to the company, including for a job.
Haart’s lawsuit says all of his allegations against her are “libel tactics” and he was the one who robbed her and stole the company’s money.
“In a transparent ploy to distract from her own fraudulent conduct, Scaglia painted a false and highly defamatory portrayal of Haart in the media as a woman who looted the business to pay her personal expenses and then ultimately embezzled $850,000 cash on his release,” the suit charges. “The real facts are, however, that it was Scaglia, not Haart, who ordered that EWG funds be used to pay personal expenses and to support other failing Scaglia businesses.”
Haart says she discovered on Feb. 3 that Scaglia had withdrawn $1.5 million from an FHI account without her permission and transferred ownership of another company out of their joint partnership with FHI, according to the pursuit.
Haart says Scaglia’s alleged fraud against her is taking place in a Delaware lawsuit between the two.
In May, a Delaware judge ruled in an interim decision that Haart did not own 50% of FHI’s preferred stock.
“If the Delaware decision is released as expected, Scaglia’s fraud will be perfected,” Haart’s lawsuit claims.
Haart says she is liable for her management fees and her 50% share in the company – the value of which is to be determined at trial. She is also suing Scaglia’s business partners for an additional $257 million.
Attorney Lanny Davis, who represents Scaglia, EWG and FHI, countered that “Ms. Haart’s motto is ‘fake it until you make it’ which she promotes in her own book.
“So now she ignores the Delaware court ruling that has already been issued against her allegations in this latest lawsuit. Pretending until you make it won’t make it in court — as she found out.
–
