Vanessa Patterson died suddenly on Feb. 8, “under mysterious circumstances.”
The lawsuit pitting well-known Richmond businessman Stuart Siegel against the estate and survivors of his deceased personal assistant continues to play out in Henrico Circuit Court.
The latest filings in the case show the individual defendants, which include the boyfriend and two sons of the late Vanessa Patterson, pushing back against Siegel’s claims that they should be on the hook to repay as much as $1 million that Patterson allegedly stole from Siegel while working for him.
The response from Patterson’s longtime boyfriend Peter Yaffe and Patterson’s two sons argues the two counts against them should be dismissed. Those two counts are unjust enrichment and the imposition of a constructive trust, the latter of which would prevent any assets from being disposed of while the case plays out.
The defendants’ argument is based in part on what they describe as vague details in Siegel’s June 12 complaint.
“Plaintiff asserts that Vanessa Patterson served as his former bookkeeper and embezzled over a million dollars from him during an undisclosed time period,” the defendants state in their response this month. “Oddly, plaintiff does not specify the time period or make any attempt to substantiate the million dollars he seeks to recover. Instead, he attaches copies of checks from 2021 and 2022 totaling less than half that amount, some of which he acknowledges that he signed.”
Another problem with Siegel’s complaint, the defense argues, is that his dispute is ultimately with Patterson, who died suddenly under “mysterious circumstances” in February shortly after the FBI allegedly paid her a visit to inquire about her boss’s accusations of theft.
“Plaintiff uses the complaint to hurl accusations at Ms. Patterson, to which she unfortunately cannot respond,” the response states.
Stuart Siegel
Siegel, the former head of once-mighty menswear brand S&K and the namesake of VCU’s Siegel Center basketball arena, claims Patterson spent the embezzled money to fund a lavish lifestyle for herself and her loved ones.
The individual defendants call the description of a lavish lifestyle as “sensationalism,” and argue that the value of the assets in Patterson’s estate as listed in the complaint as approximately $132,000.
The defendants also argue that Siegel can’t prove that Yaffe or Patterson’s sons benefitted from any money that may have been stolen.
“Plaintiff does not allege any access to his property by the individual defendants or any connection between himself and the individual defendants – because neither existed,” their response states.
Yaffe and Patterson’s sons, Carter and Graydon, are represented in the case by Belinda Jones of Christian & Barton. Jones declined to comment on the case when reached last week.
Also on the defendant list is Patterson’s estate, which is managed by Yaffe, and Patterson’s company Association Management Specialists, to which Siegel claims she siphoned much of the allegedly stolen funds.
While working as Siegel’s assistant, Patterson was responsible for preparing checks for Siegel’s signature, but he alleges that at some point she began forging his signature and making the checks payable to herself and AMS.
Siegel claims the situation came to a head when he questioned Patterson about two checks from his checking account, one payable to her personally and one to AMS.
Patterson, the suit alleges, told Siegel she’d look into the matter before shortly thereafter informing him she had to stop working for him.
Siegel then had his accounting service dig through bank statements and previously written checks. The search, the lawsuit states, found that Patterson had stolen approximately $1 million from Siegel, including at least $500,000 worth of forged checks in 2021 and 2022. It claims the theft may have begun before those dates.
The lawsuit states that the U.S. Attorney’s Office was informed of the theft and a federal investigation was apparently launched.
Shortly before her death on Feb. 8, an FBI agent met with Patterson, Siegel claims. She was given a “target letter” informing her that the FBI was investigating her in connection with the embezzlement. The suit claims that the letter offered Patterson a chance to “resolve the matter before an indictment or the issuance of an arrest warrant.”
She was given two weeks to respond but never did, the suit states.
“Patterson died suddenly and unexpectedly on Feb. 8, 2023,” the suit states.
VCU’s Siegel Center, named for Stuart Siegel. (Photo by Jeff Auth)
Patterson’s estate and AMS are represented in their defense by attorney Ryan Young of Young Law.
The estate and AMS argue that Siegel’s complaint contains insufficient information to allow the defendants to properly respond.
“Defendants are hampered in their defense since the plaintiff is fully in control of all facts in this matter,” Young argues. “It should not be defendants’ job to guess as to what plaintiff may allege relating to those undisclosed additional claims of purported theft, which make up the bulk of the damages in this case.”
The estate and AMS ask for Siegel’s camp to provide additional information that wasn’t included in the initial complaint, such as the dates of when Patterson worked for Siegel and a more specific time frame of the alleged theft.
“Each and every count in the complaint is predicated on vague allegations of theft going back for some undisclosed period of years prior to that first included check,” they argue. “Given the amount of money at stake, defendants should not be required to speculate on when or how plaintiff believes he is entitled to those additional damages, which are purportedly half a million dollars, and relate to purported checks over a span of undisclosed years.”
They also ask for more information as to how and when Siegel first discovered the theft, and question whether some of the checks in question may have been written beyond the statue of limitations for this case.
The estate and AMS call for the fraud counts against them to be dismissed and for the constructive trust to be tossed out.
Young declined to comment on the case.
Vanessa Patterson died suddenly on Feb. 8, “under mysterious circumstances.”
The lawsuit pitting well-known Richmond businessman Stuart Siegel against the estate and survivors of his deceased personal assistant continues to play out in Henrico Circuit Court.
The latest filings in the case show the individual defendants, which include the boyfriend and two sons of the late Vanessa Patterson, pushing back against Siegel’s claims that they should be on the hook to repay as much as $1 million that Patterson allegedly stole from Siegel while working for him.
The response from Patterson’s longtime boyfriend Peter Yaffe and Patterson’s two sons argues the two counts against them should be dismissed. Those two counts are unjust enrichment and the imposition of a constructive trust, the latter of which would prevent any assets from being disposed of while the case plays out.
The defendants’ argument is based in part on what they describe as vague details in Siegel’s June 12 complaint.
“Plaintiff asserts that Vanessa Patterson served as his former bookkeeper and embezzled over a million dollars from him during an undisclosed time period,” the defendants state in their response this month. “Oddly, plaintiff does not specify the time period or make any attempt to substantiate the million dollars he seeks to recover. Instead, he attaches copies of checks from 2021 and 2022 totaling less than half that amount, some of which he acknowledges that he signed.”
Another problem with Siegel’s complaint, the defense argues, is that his dispute is ultimately with Patterson, who died suddenly under “mysterious circumstances” in February shortly after the FBI allegedly paid her a visit to inquire about her boss’s accusations of theft.
“Plaintiff uses the complaint to hurl accusations at Ms. Patterson, to which she unfortunately cannot respond,” the response states.
Stuart Siegel
Siegel, the former head of once-mighty menswear brand S&K and the namesake of VCU’s Siegel Center basketball arena, claims Patterson spent the embezzled money to fund a lavish lifestyle for herself and her loved ones.
The individual defendants call the description of a lavish lifestyle as “sensationalism,” and argue that the value of the assets in Patterson’s estate as listed in the complaint as approximately $132,000.
The defendants also argue that Siegel can’t prove that Yaffe or Patterson’s sons benefitted from any money that may have been stolen.
“Plaintiff does not allege any access to his property by the individual defendants or any connection between himself and the individual defendants – because neither existed,” their response states.
Yaffe and Patterson’s sons, Carter and Graydon, are represented in the case by Belinda Jones of Christian & Barton. Jones declined to comment on the case when reached last week.
Also on the defendant list is Patterson’s estate, which is managed by Yaffe, and Patterson’s company Association Management Specialists, to which Siegel claims she siphoned much of the allegedly stolen funds.
While working as Siegel’s assistant, Patterson was responsible for preparing checks for Siegel’s signature, but he alleges that at some point she began forging his signature and making the checks payable to herself and AMS.
Siegel claims the situation came to a head when he questioned Patterson about two checks from his checking account, one payable to her personally and one to AMS.
Patterson, the suit alleges, told Siegel she’d look into the matter before shortly thereafter informing him she had to stop working for him.
Siegel then had his accounting service dig through bank statements and previously written checks. The search, the lawsuit states, found that Patterson had stolen approximately $1 million from Siegel, including at least $500,000 worth of forged checks in 2021 and 2022. It claims the theft may have begun before those dates.
The lawsuit states that the U.S. Attorney’s Office was informed of the theft and a federal investigation was apparently launched.
Shortly before her death on Feb. 8, an FBI agent met with Patterson, Siegel claims. She was given a “target letter” informing her that the FBI was investigating her in connection with the embezzlement. The suit claims that the letter offered Patterson a chance to “resolve the matter before an indictment or the issuance of an arrest warrant.”
She was given two weeks to respond but never did, the suit states.
“Patterson died suddenly and unexpectedly on Feb. 8, 2023,” the suit states.
VCU’s Siegel Center, named for Stuart Siegel. (Photo by Jeff Auth)
Patterson’s estate and AMS are represented in their defense by attorney Ryan Young of Young Law.
The estate and AMS argue that Siegel’s complaint contains insufficient information to allow the defendants to properly respond.
“Defendants are hampered in their defense since the plaintiff is fully in control of all facts in this matter,” Young argues. “It should not be defendants’ job to guess as to what plaintiff may allege relating to those undisclosed additional claims of purported theft, which make up the bulk of the damages in this case.”
The estate and AMS ask for Siegel’s camp to provide additional information that wasn’t included in the initial complaint, such as the dates of when Patterson worked for Siegel and a more specific time frame of the alleged theft.
“Each and every count in the complaint is predicated on vague allegations of theft going back for some undisclosed period of years prior to that first included check,” they argue. “Given the amount of money at stake, defendants should not be required to speculate on when or how plaintiff believes he is entitled to those additional damages, which are purportedly half a million dollars, and relate to purported checks over a span of undisclosed years.”
They also ask for more information as to how and when Siegel first discovered the theft, and question whether some of the checks in question may have been written beyond the statue of limitations for this case.
The estate and AMS call for the fraud counts against them to be dismissed and for the constructive trust to be tossed out.
Young declined to comment on the case.