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High-profile lawyers behind ‘Reality Reckoning’ accused of luring Bravo’s Tom Sandoval to ‘point fingers’ at network, NBC Universal
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High-profile lawyers behind ‘Reality Reckoning’ accused of luring Bravo’s Tom Sandoval to ‘point fingers’ at network, NBC Universal

Reputable lawyers who lead the so-called “Reckoning Reality” are accused of trying to get a reality star to implicate the campaign’s primary target, reality giant Bravo.

Along with Bravo alum Bethenny Frankel, attorneys Bryan Freedman and Mark Geragos loudly launched the crusade last year, promising to make NBC Universal — the company that owns Bravo — pay for the alleged “grotesque and depraved mistreatment” of its stars.

The “reckoning” seems to have made little progress since then.

“Vanderpump Rules” star Tom Sandoval claimed the lawyers behind “Reality Reckoning” offered to drop a lawsuit against him if he offered to help “point the finger at NBC Universal.” Photo by Amanda Edwards/Getty Images
Attorneys Bryan Freedman (right) and Mark Geragos (left) launched their crusade against NBC Universal with Bethenny Frankel last year. AP Photo/Jaimie Ding

Now “Vanderpump Rules” star Tom Sandoval tells Page Six that Geragos and Freedman offered to drop a damning lawsuit against him if he’d be willing to “point the finger at NBC Universal” and help them to build their case that the company made up a story that it would create. to humiliate his client, Sandoval’s ex-girlfriend, Rachel Leviss.

In 2023, reality fans were captivated by ‘Scandoval’, where it was revealed that Sandoval had an affair with co-star Leviss on the back of his fiancee, Ariana Madix, who also starred in “Vanderpump Rules.” The deception came to light when Sandoval’s cell phone, which contained the incriminating images and videos, fell out of his pocket and was handed to Madix.

Leviss is done suing Sandoval and Madix in a revenge porn actionclaiming that Sandoval secretly recorded her having sex on FaceTime and that Madix sent her the footage to embarrass her. (Madix asked to get out of the suit, claiming he never sent the footage to anyone but Leviss, and Sandoval denied secretly recording it).

Now Sandoval alleges that sometime in the summer of 2024, Freedman and Geragos approached his attorneys Varand Gourjian and Tara Karamians of the Gourjian Law Group and offered a quid pro quo.

Sandoval had an affair with co-star Rachel Leviss in 2023. Photo by Robin L Marshall/Getty Images
Sandoval and Ariana Madix were sued by Rachel Leviss for revenge porn. Photo by Amanda Edwards/Getty Images

“My lawyer told me, ‘They made you an offer — I know you’re not going to take it — but I have to get it to you: If you point the finger at NBC Universal, they’re going to drop the case. you.”

He tells us the lawyers asked him if he “would be willing” to say that NBC Universal agents “set him up” to reveal the Madix affair.

A representative for Gourjian Law Group told us: “We cannot comment on the settlement offers made to our client, but it seems to me that from the beginning Leviss planned to make the studios her real target, as is clear from various passages in the lawsuit which they filed (against Sandoval and Madix). Tom Sandoval has consistently stated that the studios had absolutely nothing to do with the unfortunate events that unfolded.”

Sandoval claimed that the lawyers wanted him to say that NBC Universal “made him reveal the affair to Madix.” Photo by Greg Doherty/Getty Images

When asked about the claims, Geragos and Freedman said, “Tom claims he lost his phone. Tom claimed he lost his lawyer. In fact, Tom lost his decision to dismiss (revenge cost). Now he seems to have lost his mind.”

(Sandoval didn’t really “lose” his lawyer. He fired a lawyer he hired to work on the revenge porn case.)

In the 2024 letter promising that “the day of reckoning has arrived” for NBCUniversal — which also owns E! — Geragos and Freedman claimed they have “a significant number of individuals” ready to tell their stories.

But they have yet to file a complaint, and as Page 6 recently reported, they gave up representation ‘Real Housewives’ star Brandi Glanville in lawsuit against Bravo.

The lawyers sent a separate letter to NBCUniversal telling the company and Bravo personality Andy Cohen to prepare to receive a lawsuit over the way they treated Glanville during her time on “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ and ‘Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls’. Trip,” including a sexually charged private message Cohen sent to Glanville in 2023. (Cohen has denied wrongdoing, and a third-party investigation cleared him of wrongdoing).

Meanwhile, a separate case that former “Real Housewives of New York” star Leah McSweeney brought against Cohen and the network, among others, is ongoing. She is represented by another lawyer.

Another case brought against NBCUniversal by Caroline Manzo, in which she claims that she was sexually harassed by Glanville while taping for Bravo is also ongoing. He also has another lawyer. (Glanville denied wrongdoing).