A judge in Texas has dismissed an oddball, $100,00 lawsuit filed against Brad Pitt by a woman claiming the actor was somehow responsible for promises made by an online fraudster using the star's name.
Kelli Christina, the Plano, Texas-based owner of a staffing and recruiting firm, filed suit against Brad last month for not doing enough "to protect his fans from imposters" after someone claiming to be Brad scammed her out of $40,000 while wooing her with "discussions of marriage," according to court papers reviewed by Page Six.
In the documents, Kelli claimed a person who said they were Brad contacted her in 2018 about producing multiple fundraisers for Brad's embattled Make It Right Foundation, the housing nonprofit established by the Oscar winner in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
She apparently agreed to organize the events, which were to feature $40,000 worth of appearances by Brad. She says she footed the bill but each time "Brad" was due to attend an event, he bailed at the last minute.
Meanwhile, Kelli says she somehow developed such a close romantic relationship with the Brad imposter, whom she never met in person, that they started talking about tying the knot.
Eventually, she determined the person she was in touch with was not Brad Pitt the actor. That didn't stop her from suing the real Brad Pitt anyway — for six figures.
On Thursday, however, the judge who heard her case deemed it "meritless," according to Page Six, and granted the motion to dismiss filed by Brad's lawyers.
In an email to the outlet, Kelli detailed the various ways she attempted to contact the actual Brad Pitt and griped that the star shrugged her off.
"Brad Pitt ignored all [my problems] [for] a year and a half," she wrote. "He was contacted [about the ordeal] at Make It Right [his production company], Plan B Entertainment, his Los Angeles home and his Beverly Hills attorney [in] the summer of 2019. All problems [were] ignored and yet it's his name and reputation [being used to defraud people]."
She told the outlet she's working on a proposal for a government and "Hollywood establishment"-led project to prevent similar scams in the future.