UFC president Dana White has been named in a lawsuit in which he’s identified as the alleged prominent Las Vegas businessman victimized in a $200,000 sex-tape extortion.
On Saturday, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported details of the suit, which was filed late Friday in Clark County (Nev.) District Court.
According to the lawsuit, Ernesto Joshua Ramos, 42, who pled guilty in federal court and served a 366-day prison sentence for the extortion crime, is accusing White of breaking a deal in April 2016 to pay him $450,000 in exchange for not disclosing White’s name after the criminal case closed.
Ramos also claims in the suit that he didn’t demand money from White and alleges that White’s lawyers provided false information to get the FBI to investigate him on extortion charges.
“I just found out that a bull(expletive) lawsuit was filed against me yesterday,” White said in a statement obtained by MMA Junkie. “This guy went to federal prison for trying to extort me over five years ago. Now he’s hired a lawyer who is also a convicted felon, and he’s trying to extort me again for $10 million. He got no money from me last time, and he won’t be getting any money from me this time. I look forward to the court dismissing this quickly, so I can get rid of these scumbags forever.”
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Las Vegas attorney Ian Christopherson, who prepared the civil suit on behalf of Ramos, was convicted of tax evasion in 2012 and later suspended from practicing law. The Nevada Supreme Court reinstated Christopherson’s license in 2018.
The criminal case against Ramos first was reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 2015 and stemmed from what prosecutors alleged was an October 2014 secret meeting between an unnamed businessman and an adult nightclub dancer – Ramos’ live-in girlfriend. White was at a UFC event in Brazil at the time, according to the civil suit (UFC 179 took place October 25, 2014 in Rio de Janeiro).
Early in the criminal case, a federal magistrate judge signed a protective order prohibiting the businessman’s name from being disclosed.
The civil suit states that White allegedly had been seeing the stripper at a club for months and paid her to dance for him in private. It also alleges that the stripper taped herself having sex with White in a hotel room in Brazil – done without White’s knowledge.
FBI agents arrested Ramos in January 2015 in Las Vegas and charged him with trying to extort $200,000 from White after the encounter overseas with the stripper. FBI agents videotaped the exchange of money between him and Ramos during a late-night meeting at the businessman’s office, the government alleged.
The Las Vegas Review Journal, citing an FBI complaint against Ramos in 2015, reported that the victim of extortion was identified as a married businessman and Las Vegas resident with two minor children and who is “part-owner of a well-known business” with access to a company jet.
Over a two-year period, the businessman tipped the stripper roughly $200,000, usually at $10,000 per visit, to dance and have sex with him in a private room at an adult nightclub, according to the complaint. The stripper’s identity remained anonymous in court documents, and she was not charged.
The civil suit also claims that White and his lawyers offered Ramos money during the criminal case to persuade him to plead guilty. The suit states that White and his lawyers did not come through with the money after Ramos admitted to the crime.
“The actions of White were fraudulent, oppressive and designed to encourage Ramos to plead guilty so he could negotiate a substantial settlement, which would prevent the disclosure of his actions at trial for the personal benefit of White and his related businesses and interest,” the suit alleges.
The UFC is also a defendant in the lawsuit.
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