Jill Roberts Owners Sued by Ari Emanuel
Veteran Los Angeles boutique owners Mark Freeman and Jill Roberts Freeman were sued for fraud by prominent Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel, the inspiration for the Ari character of HBO series “Entourage” and the brother of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
The Freemans have been running a Jill Roberts boutique in Santa Monica, Calif., since 1995, and they currently run three other Jill Roberts boutiques in Southern California.
The suit, filed by Emanuel on Oct. 18 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, said that the Freemans had requested a series of business loans from the super agent to build Seaton, Freeman’s casual beach-chic line.With the first loan of $200,000, Emanuel and his wife, Sarah Emanuel, were made 50 percent partners of Seaton. Emanuel made additional loans, which totaled $600,000, for Seaton, according to the suit.
In September, Mark Freeman told Emanuel that Seaton was going out of business and the agent would not be reimbursed. Emanuel later looked at Seaton’s spreadsheets and found what he alleged was a pattern of deceit and fraud. “They operated Seaton as if it was their own personal piggy bank, misappropriating the plaintiff’s investment and using Seaton to finance their lifestyle,” said the complaint, which was filed by the Los Angeles–headquartered law firm of Glaser Weil Fink Jacobs Howard Avchen & Shapiro LLP.
Jill Roberts did not return phone and email requests for comment. Lawyers for Emanuel also did not reply to an email requesting comment.—Andrew Asch
