Oscar de la Hoya. Photo / Reuters
NEW YORK - A New York woman is suing Olympic boxer Oscar de la Hoya for $100 million, saying she was coerced into agreeing not to sell photographs of him dancing around a hotel room in women's clothing.
Milana Dravnel, who the New York Post and New
York Daily News reported had met de la Hoya at a strip club where she worked, said the agreement was made after she had already sold some of the images to a Hollywood photo agency for US$70,000.
The lawsuit, filed in New York State Court, said that amount was "below market value" for the photos, which were widely disseminated.
In one of the images, de la Hoya appears in a black fishnet bodysuit and black heels. In another, he is wearing a white tutu. It is not known whether the photos, apparently taken at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Philadelphia, were doctored.
Representatives for de la Hoya, the Mexican-American multiple world champion known as "Golden Boy," were not immediately available for comment.
Dravnel, 22, said a representative of de la Hoya coerced her into signing the agreement, which blocked her from selling or discussing the pictures she took of the 34-year-old boxer.
De la Hoya sought the agreement with Dravnel "in an effort to stonewall (her) effort to sell the pictures taken by her," the lawsuit said.
Dravnel said in the filing she was especially vulnerable to coercion by de la Hoya's representatives because she and the boxer had been in an "intimate relationship."
She said she was "unaware of the legal consequences of the transaction" and that she did not have a lawyer present when she signed the agreement. As a result, Dravnel has been cheated out of income and has been unable to repair her damaged public reputation, the lawsuit said.
Dravnel is suing for fraud, defamation, interfering with a contract, and exerting undue and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
- REUTERS
