Jewelry designer accused La celebrity lawyer of unpaid fees in ‘fraud’ lawsuit

As jewelry companies Alex and Ani tried to redefine their product line in 2023, executives turned to Los Angeles-based designer Pamela Love.

Love works with its own brand of the same name with J. Crew, Shinola and Top Shop. In Alex and Ani, she will be “creative director” for about $21,000 a month, plus royalties.

Now, Love brings Alex and Ani’s owners to court, saying the company is selling her design but owes her $6 million in royalties and other fees, as well as over $200,000 in unpaid consultation fees.

In a lawsuit filed in New York on Wednesday, Love and her attorneys are seeking to collect unpaid money, while also alleging that the owner of the jewelry brand, including a company owned by La celebrity attorney Mark Geragos, engaged in “Shell Games” and orchestrated the “pre-redeemed person for crime” to avoid paying and other creditors.

The lawsuit alleges that the two owners of the jewelry company, The Bathing Club LLC (claimed to be controlled by Geragos) and LC A&A Holdings, which claims to be controlled by financier Lyndon Lea through private equity fund Lion Capital.

“Pamela Love began arbitration against Alex and Ani to recover unpaid consulting fees and sales royalties… Lyndon Lea and Mark Geragos, the ultimate beneficial owners of Alex and Ani, carried out a year-old plot to achieve the proof of Alex and Ani,” Love’s lawsuit said. ”

Neither Geragos nor Lea responded immediately to the allegations or requests for comment.

The lawsuit comes as Geragos frantically cheers on celebrities representing Lyle and Erik Menendez, which raises wider business risks for lawyers, including ownership of Los Angeles magazine, restaurants, hotels in California and New York, and minority stakes in Alex and Ani. Jewelry companies have been struggling in recent years, including bankruptcy in 2021.

After starting in 2023 on Alex and Ani, Love initially received payments, but did not receive payments in the last 10 months. The lawsuit says she designed jewelry for Alex and Ani, which sold last summer. Under the three-year agreement, Love is eligible for royalties for products she designed or “otherwise contributed”, but she has never received such payment or sales reports to enable her to determine the royalties.

In the spring of 2024, she began arbitration to collect unpaid funds.

“Alex and Ani do not deny Pamela’s high fees under the agreement,” the lawsuit said. The company’s former attorney “accepted” that Alex and Ani are “trying to find a way to pay Pamela her money” during the arbitration.

The arbitrator, former Los Angeles Superior Court judge Katherine Chilton, said love and said “undisputed” that she has not been paid for 10 months. In a December decision, Chilton asked Alex and Ani LLC for $208,333.40 for security, and $12,000 for cost.

Chilton noted that the company’s “only reason” for not giving love is its poor financial situation, “apparently, because the assets have been transferred to third parties.”

Love’s suit also claims that efforts to relocate assets make it hard to get as difficult as the creditors Love collects.

In these steps: In February 2023, The Bathing Club, a company associated with Geragos, documented the security interests of all Alex and ANI assets, according to the lawsuit. In 2024, shortly after Love initiated the arbitration, Lea, which owns 65% of the jewelry company, also allocated all lien of the company’s assets to the bathroom club.

“The transfer is from insiders to insiders,” the lawsuit said. “There are two insiders’ lien to Alex and Ani’s assets without defending Pamela Love’s claim… Geragos led to strict foreclosure of Alex and Ani’s assets around July 24, 2024.”

The lawsuit claims that foreclosure is “a false part of the fraudulent creditor” and does not undermine business operations.

“The claimed foreclosure is the name,” the lawsuit said. “The employees of Alex and Ani were ‘fired’ and’re rehired on the same day.”

Love’s lawsuit puts foreclosure as part of the “bankruptcy defense” that Geragos attempted, while also serving as attorney for Alex and Ani. Geragos noted in a September email that board members “will bring together entities” and that the company’s CEO Prita Kumar “has not worked for Alex and Ani since lenders cancelled collateral in July.”

During the arbitration, independent board member Larry Meyer announced a penalty of perjury and he was “managing the orderly closure of the company.”

However, according to the suit, Alex and Ani’s online business has been continuing, and in the fall, Love’s managers were able to buy Love rings designed by Alex and Ani’s website.

“Pamela Love did not receive royalties for the sale,” the lawsuit states.

Earlier this year, Geragos said Kumar, who is no longer with the company, posted Alex and Ani on LinkedIn “she burst” and hoped to hire. One of the positions, she wrote, is for “leaders … leaders who can generate revenue for us with millions of customers.”

Love’s lawsuit says the operation was planned ahead. As evidence, Love tells a conversation with Alex and Ani’s chief creative officer, who told Love she was part of the “avant-garde” program.

“‘You will turn to another company, we will all be [Geragos’] The lawsuit says the company,” chief creative officer told Love.