{"id":7026,"date":"2025-07-23T16:55:06","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T16:55:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/david-geffens-lawyer-slams-ex-husbands-lawsuit-false-pathetic\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T16:55:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T16:55:06","slug":"david-geffens-lawyer-slams-ex-husbands-lawsuit-false-pathetic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/david-geffens-lawyer-slams-ex-husbands-lawsuit-false-pathetic\/","title":{"rendered":"David Geffen’s Lawyer Slams Ex-Husband’s Lawsuit: ‘False & Pathetic’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\n\tD<\/span>avid Geffen\u2019s lawyers are hitting back after the music and film mogul\u2019s estranged husband sued him over explosive allegations of paid sex, exploitation and abuse, vowing to defeat what they called a \u201cfalse, pathetic lawsuit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe response came less than a day after Donovan Michaels filed a shocking lawsuit Tuesday (July 22), claiming his soon-to-be ex-husband, Geffen, exploited a young man with a history of \u201cneglect, poverty, instability and legal entanglements\u201d by lavishing him with money in return for serving as \u201ca sexual commodity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAccusing Geffen of breach of contract, the lawsuit claims the mogul verbally promised a \u201clifetime\u201d of support in 2020 \u2014 only to \u201ccut him off\u201d when the pair began divorce proceedings in May, less than two years after they married in 2023.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut in a strongly worded response statement on Wednesday, Geffen\u2019s lawyer Patty Glaser denied the lawsuit\u2019s allegations and vowed to fight back. \u201cThere was no contract \u2014 express, written, oral or implied \u2014 that has ever existed,\u201d Glaser said. \u201cWe will be vigorously and righteously defending against this false, pathetic lawsuit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe lawsuit from Michaels, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, went far beyond accusing Geffen of simple breach of contract. Across dozens of pages, it included a wide range of ugly allegations about his brief marriage to the billionaire entertainment titan.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis case is not about a mere personal falling out \u2014 it is about the systemic exploitation of a vulnerable, marginalized young gay Black man by a wealthy, powerful white gay billionaire who believed himself untouchable,\u201d wrote Michaels\u2019 lawyer, Bryan Freedman, in documents obtained by Billboard<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom their first meeting \u2014 at which Michaels claims Geffen paid him thousands for sex \u2014 the lawsuit alleged that Geffen used a \u201ctoxic mix of seduction, control, promises of love and lavish displays of wealth\u201d in order to trap his husband \u201cin a cycle of dependency, submission and humiliation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBehind the glittering facade of their relationship was a calculated pattern of abuse and commodification,\u201d Michaels\u2019 lawyers wrote.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe case was filed as a so-called Marvin action \u2014 a reference to a landmark 1976 California court ruling involving Lee Marvin that established that unmarried partners sometimes have legal rights following a split. Michaels says the relationship prior to their 2023 marriage represented \u201ca Marvin-type partnership\u201d in which Geffen made legally enforceable promises of support.<\/p>\n

\n\tGeffen\u2019s existing divorce case, filed in May by prominent Hollywood divorce lawyer Laura Wasser, will continue to be litigated separately. But Tuesday\u2019s case could be aimed at allowing Michael to seek financial remedies based on the three years prior to marriage, after Geffen\u2019s alleged promise of support.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith a net worth reportedly over $9 billion, Geffen has long been one of the entertainment industry\u2019s wealthiest figures. In 1970, he co-founded the influential Asylum Records, then later founded Geffen Records, which was eventually absorbed by Universal Music Group. In 1994, he co-founded DreamWorks Pictures with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2023, Geffen married Michaels (whose real name is David Armstrong), a former exotic dancer 50 years his junior, without a prenuptial agreement. After less than two years of marriage, Geffen filed for divorce in May, citing irreconcilable differences.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn Tuesday\u2019s lawsuit, Michaels aired many alleged details about his previously private relationship with the media mogul, including that they had met in 2016 on a website called SeekingArrangements.com that aims to facilitate \u201cmutually beneficial\u201d relationships. He also claimed Geffen paid him $10,000 for sex on the night that they first met.<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to Michaels, what started as \u201ca paid sexual relationship\u201d eventually evolved into long-term partnership, in which Geffen allegedly promised in 2020 to provide for him forever.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cGeffen told Michaels he loved him and the two would treat one another as life partners, share all assets equally, and Geffen would support Michaels financially for life,\u201d his lawyers wrote. \u201cMichaels gave up his dreams \u2013 his modeling career, his independence \u2013 to dedicate himself fully to this promise.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter the pair married in 2023, the lawsuit claimed much of the marriage \u201cseemed to be based on Geffen\u2019s sexual proclivities,\u201d with the mogul demanding \u201csexual access at will, including acts Michaels found degrading.\u201d He alleged Geffen had \u201can unquenchable thirst for control,\u201d frequently demeaned him and plied him with drugs and alcohol as \u201ctools of coercion.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Michaels attempted to get sober and \u201cthings got difficult,\u201d he said Geffen quickly demanded a divorce, saying he \u201cdiscarded him just as easily as he had acquired him.\u201d Michaels said he was left with no option but to file his lawsuit because his ex has refused to negotiate their split unless Michaels fires his attorneys and uses Geffen\u2019s own \u201chandpicked team of lawyers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWrote Michaels\u2019 lawyers: \u201cGeffen has made it clear that he will stop at nothing to destroy Michaels.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Geffen\u2019s lawyers are hitting back after the music and film mogul\u2019s estranged husband sued him over explosive allegations of paid sex, exploitation and abuse, vowing to defeat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[577,6508,1880,6507,303,107,6509,1161],"class_list":["post-7026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-david","tag-exhusbands","tag-false","tag-geffens","tag-lawsuit","tag-lawyer","tag-pathetic","tag-slams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}