‘SHAKEDOWN SCHEME’

Guess Exec Paul Marciano Sues Lisa Bloom, Alleging Extortion

The embattled fashion mogul went on the warpath Monday, filing a suit against the famed attorney who represents several women accusing him of sexual misconduct.

Guess co-founder Paul Marciano on Monday filed a lawsuit against attorney Lisa Bloom, who represents several women accusing him of sexual misconduct, claiming she extorted the fashion mogul.

In the complaint, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Marciano and his lawyers allege that Bloom threatened a lawsuit accusing the Guess executive of rape despite her now-former client in the draft suit—pseudonymously identified as “S.S.”—having claimed in a sworn declaration that she never told Bloom’s firm she was raped by Marciano.

The filing “meticulously details a series of brazen actions orchestrated by Bloom to concoct allegations and extort money from Paul Marciano, including attempts to conceal the shakedown scheme,” the Guess mogul’s crisis publicist Eric Rose wrote in a statement. “The plot ultimately unraveled when a whistleblower former client of Bloom revealed that she had specifically disavowed a claim of rape that Bloom had asserted against Marciano and told Bloom to remove that allegation from a draft lawsuit Bloom used to threaten Mr. Marciano. The Complaint further alleges that Bloom never removed it.”

Bloom responded in a statement to The Daily Beast: “Over twenty women have accused Paul Marciano of sexual harassment and sexual assault (most of whom I did not represent), according to Guess’ own records. Guess has stood by him for decades despite the pleas of so many women for justice and a recent shareholder revolt. His strongarm tactics do not work on me.”

She continued: “I am finally taking Paul Marciano’s deposition next week. He is getting desperate. He is losing and he knows it. (As for this former client, we have many confidential emails from her describing her appalling story of what Paul Marciano did to her, which is why she hired us, to get justice against him on her sexual misconduct claims. We get client approval on everything we send out.) I will not be distracted.”

Over the past year, Marciano has been accused of sexual misconduct by at least four women, with three taking their claims to court with Bloom as their lawyer. Over the past decade, at least six other women accused the mogul of misconduct, including supermodel Kate Upton, who alleged that he groped her.

Marciano resigned as CEO in 2018 after Guess paid $500,000 in settlements to five accusers, but the fashion retailer reinstated him as a chief creative officer less than a year later. The company has continued to steadfastly defend him, despite public criticism from a key stakeholder and the company’s own insurer.

Elsewhere in his lawsuit, Marciano swipes at Bloom for having previously represented Harvey Weinstein, alleging that the lawsuits against him are based on fabricated claims that are then reported by media outlets including The Daily Beast—all part of Bloom’s “Weinstein Game Plan,” he writes.

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Diana Falzone

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