LAS VEGAS (Legal Newsline) - A woman who blackmailed her former boss and lover into handing over $12 million worth of Bitcoin and valuables, including a Ferrari automobile, is subject to a multimillion-dollar default judgment after failing to show up in court, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled.
The court rejected the woman’s arguments she wasn’t aware of critical court dates but it did set aside a civil extortion ruling the judge entered even though it wasn’t in the plaintiff’s complaint, saying the judge couldn’t rule she had “impliedly consented” to the claim. It made no monetary difference, however, since the Supreme Court found the plaintiff could recover the same amount for wrongful conversion.
The decision adds to the legal woes for Ava W. Blige, who was also arrested and charged with criminal extortion by Las Vegas police over the same allegations in 2021. Plaintiff Christopher Terry employed Blige in his Internet company as a personal assistant and the two eventually entered into a romantic relationship.
After the relationship ended, “Blige revealed to Terry that she had taken damaging or compromising photographs of him” and would publicly release them unless he complied with her demands for valuables and cryptocurrency, the court said in its Dec. 28 decision.
“Terry complied with Blige’s demand to transfer Bitcoin to her in hopes she would not release any of the photographs or recordings,” the court said. “However, after he complied, Blige continued to threaten to publicly release the information.”
Terry ultimately handed over $12 million under threats Blige “would expose his company, and it would ‘be worse than what Steve Wynn went through,’” according to police reports.
Terry filed a criminal extortion complaint against Blige and sued her in civil court, seeking to get his money back as well as an injunction prohibiting Blige from releasing the compromising information. Blige fired her attorneys after discovery began and never complied with orders to turn over evidence. She also failed to appear at an October 2021 hearing and the court entered a default judgment against her for $4.9 million, including $2.2 million in punitive damages.
Blige moved to reverse the judgment, saying she wasn’t aware of the court date. She also said she didn’t receive court documents because Terry had them sent to her parents’ house, where she didn’t live full time. And she claimed she thought her lawyers complied with the discovery requests, but the record shows the “attorney-client relationship was irretrievably broken” to the extent she had to be escorted out of the offices by police, the Supreme Court said.
Blige also challenged evidence including screenshots of text messages and Bitcoin transfers to “Ava,” “AvaLava” and “Ava 2”. Among other things, the sender “Ava2” referred to Terry as “baby” or “love,” providing circumstantial evidence it was Blige, the court said.