UFC president Dana White has been named in a lawsuit as the alleged prominent Las Vegas businessman victimized by a $200,000 sex-tape extortion, according to a report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
In a lawsuit filed in Clark County District Court on Friday, Ernesto Joshua Ramos accused White of breaking an agreement made in April 2016 to pay him $450,000 for not naming the UFC boss in a criminal extortion case. Ramos pleaded guilty to the federal extortion scheme and served 366 days in jail as result.
“I just found out that a bulls—t lawsuit was filed against me yesterday,” White said in a statement provided to the Review-Journal. “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.”
The civil suit, filed by Las Vegas attorney Ian Christopherson, alleges that White and his lawyers offered Ramos money to plead guilty but did not pay the defendant after testimony. Ramos alleges in the lawsuit that he did not demand money from White and that White’s attorneys provided false information to the FBI to investigate him on extortion charges.
“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 criminal case stemmed from a 2014 overseas encounter between an unnamed businessman and an exotic dancer who worked at the Spearmint Rhino nightclub in Las Vegas. White was overseeing a UFC event in Brazil at the time of the alleged meeting, according to the civil suit.
The stripper, who was Ramos’ live-in girlfriend, allegedly filmed herself and White having sex in Brazil on her cell phone without White’s knowledge. Ramos was arrested in January 2015 after attempting to extort $200,000 from White following the overseas encounter. FBI agents taped the exchange of money between White and Ramos.
According to the civil complaint, White had been seeing the stripper at the Spearmint Rhino for months and paid her large amounts of money to dance for him.
A previous report from the Review-Journal cited an FBI complaint identifying the extortion victim as a married local resident with two children who was the “part-owner of a well-known business.” Over a two-year period, that complaint alleged that the businessman tipped the stripper approximately $200,000 to dance and have sex with him in a private room. The stripper has remained anonymous and was not charged in the case.
The UFC has also been named as a defendant in the civil suit.