Kevin Hart evades $60 million sex tape lawsuit tentatively as accuser filed charges in wrong jurisdiction
The $60 million lawsuit against Kevin Hart has been dismissed by a federal judge in California as the charges against the comedian were filed in the wrong venue.
According to PageSix, the case wasn’t dismissed on prejudice and the accuser, Montia Sabbag can file a suit once again in the right jurisdiction. She can take it up in any of the local civil courts as she and Hart are both residents of California.
In 2019, Sabbag alleged that Hart had secretly filmed themselves having consensual sex in a hotel in Las Vegas in 2015. In a lawsuit which she filed against the comedian, Sabbag had even accused his friend JT Jackson, who allegedly helped Hart set up cameras in the hotel room.
Reports stated that “on September 17, 2019, [she] became aware for the first time of the video’s existence and that she had been surreptitiously videotaped while naked and engaging in private sexual activity in a private bedroom and that her privacy had been invaded.”
She also maintained that she was not an exorcist who was trying to gain from Hart’s situation. She admitted to being involved with him but denied any role in the secret recording.
“I was involved with Kevin Hart a month ago … I’m not an extortionist. I’m not a stripper. I’m a recording artist and an actress, and I have not broken any laws. I had nothing to do with these recordings … I’m truly sorry for any involvement I had in this,” she said.
Although Hart initially denied the allegations, he later issued an apology statement that read, “I’m at a place in my life where I feel like I have a target on my back and because of that I should make smart decisions. And recently, I didn’t. You know, I’m not perfect. I’m not going to sit up here and say that I am or claim to be in any way shape or form."
"And I made a bad error in judgment and I put myself in a bad environment where only bad things can happen and they did. And in doing that I know that I’m going to hurt the people closest to me, who I’ve talked to and apologized to, that would be my wife and my kids. But I’m also not going to allow a person to have financial gain off of my mistakes and in this particular situation that was what was attempted. I said I’d rather fess up to my mistakes," it further stated.
Hart’s wife Eniko Parrish was pregnant when the comedian’s infidelity came to light. He has a two-year-old son with Parrish.
Hart’s friend Jackson was arrested in 2018 on the charges of extortion after threatening the former of leaking the sex tape with Sabbag, but he denied the charges.