Actress, Singer and former American Idol Judge, Jennifer Lopez is countersuing her former chauffer Habob Manoukian for $20 million in damages claiming that he threatened to divulge personal and confidential information to public.
Lopez says that her former driver got upset when she refused to use a security crew recommended by him and as a result blackmailed the superstar and made "other ominous threats to report Ms. Lopez to the 'authorities' if his demands were not met," as reported by CNN News. According to Lopez's claims, her driver demanded she pay him $2.8 million or he would file a criminal prosecution.
According to the countersuit filed on Wednesday, the ex-driver "became hostile and angry because he mistakenly and unreasonably believed he had the unqualified right to designate the security team and profit from any budgetary allocations for such security," (www.CNN.com)
But Manoukian has his own set of accusations against the former American Idol judge. He filed suit against Lopez in May in a Los Angeles court stating that the 43-year-old super star breached his contract. Manoukian alleges that Lopez owes him $200,000 according to his contract which stipulates that he would receive "production pay" in addition to his $75,000 salary. Further more, Manoukian claims that he was never paid for over-time, and that Lopez often denied him his lunch breaks.
The former Chauffer of JLO is also in litigation with Lopez's manager Benny Medina, whom he claims "chastised and humiliated" him in front of an entire staff for not being "presentable" according to reports by Fox News Latino. He says that he was forced to resign because of his mistreatment at the hands of Medina.
Lopez employed Manoukian in 2005; at the time she was still married to singer Marc Anthony, with whom she has twins.
In July Lopez announced her departure from the hit reality singing show American Idol.
