James Packer and the giant ‘$335m love trap’
An actor who dated billionaire James Packer and brought down the careers of Warner Bros chairman Kevin Tsujihara and NBCUniversal boss Ron Meyer has petitioned a LA court to drop a gag order preventing her from talking about sex with Mr Tsujihara.
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A British actor who had a relationship with billionaire James Packer and went on to bring down the careers of Warner Bros chairman Kevin Tsujihara and NBCUniversal boss Ron Meyer has petitioned a Los Angeles court to drop a gag order preventing her from talking about sex involving Mr Tsujihara that she alleges was nonconsensual.
On Friday a lawyer for Mr Packer, who introduced his 21-year-old girlfriend Charlotte Kirk to his movie business associate Mr Tsujihara in 2013 — telling Ms Kirk the meeting was “the opportunity of a lifetime” and it would be good for her career — said the amount of money being sought by Ms Kirk was akin to extortion.
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Marty Singer, lawyer for Mr Packer, American-Israeli film producer Avi Lerner and Mr Packer’s former friend and Hollywood associate Brett Ratner, who introduced the billionaire to Ms Kirk in 2012, denounced Ms Kirk’s recent September 3 petition to the Los Angeles Superior Court naming his three clients and Mr Tsujihara as a “honey trap scheme”.
“This so-called legal filing is simply the latest element of their “honey trap” scheme ... with ever-evolving, outlandish false allegations of misconduct unless they are paid millions of dollars. The sum they are demanding has now reached a mind-boggling $335m,” Mr Singer said.
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Mr Tsujihara, who resigned as CEO of Warner Bros in March 2019 after the launch of an investigation at Warner to determine if the executive had used his influence to cast Ms Kirk in Warner Bros productions, denied through his lawyer having any non-consensual sex with Ms Kirk during their two year affair in 2013 and 2014.
Bert H. Deixler, Mr Tsujihara’s lawyer, said the report in The Hollywood Reporter comprised “lies and twisted facts”.
“Despite being provided with evidence to refute several purported claims, The Hollywood Reporter recklessly included these blatant falsehoods. Any claims made against Kevin Tsujihara related to Ms Kirk are legally and factually baseless, manufactured many years after their brief consensual relationship to unjustly seek the payment of money. The relationship was pursued by Ms Kirk and at all times understood by Kevin to be entirely consensual. Kevin will pursue all legal remedies available to protect himself from extortionate claims and prevent false accusations against him.”
Ms Kirk was a fledgling actor when Mr Packer invited her to the presidential suite of LA hotspot the Bel-Air Hotel at 12.10am on September 27, 2013, to meet “the most important man u can meet”.
In the new petition published by The Hollywood Reporter on Friday and citing sealed court documents, Ms Kirk takes aim at Mr Packer, who was also at the Bel-Air that night, for the first time.
She previously said Mr Packer had not engaged in any inappropriate conduct.
Last month of NBCUniversal Vice Chairman Ron Meyer was stood down after it emerged he too had an affair with a woman, identified as Ms Kirk, years ago and had been a target for what he called continuous extortion attempts.