A legal battle over Miss America could go from civil court to criminal.
Former Atlantic City casino owner Glenn Straub filed a lawsuit in Florida late last week claiming he ousted CEO Robin Fleming, after an audit found she was stealing from the company.
He put damages at more than $20 million.
But Fleming claims she is the sole owner of Miss America and said in a written statement, "I refuse to be bullied by Mr. Straub."
While the court awaits a promised response from Fleming's legal team, Straub doubled down Monday.
"Robin Fleming has continued the ruse of ownership in order to unilaterally control and block access to bank accounts, credit cards, official Miss America social media outlets, and to hide a substantial amount of assets included in the purchase agreement and paid for in full by my company," he wrote in an email sent to the pageant's state directors late Monday afternoon.
If Fleming does not turn over access to the bank accounts and passwords within 48 hours, criminal charges will be filed against her, a spokesman for Straub told BreakingAC.
"If he does that, he will be committing a felony," said Freehold-based attorney Stuart Moskovitz, who spoke on Fleming's behalf. "If he deliberately sends misinformation to (law enforcement), that's a felony in addition to other felonies he has committed as part of an ongoing vendetta.
"Right now, it's a civil matter. It's defamation," he continued. "Mr. Straub can just ask his good friend Donald Trump what happens when you get involved in defamation."
Fleming's side claims Straub never owned Miss America and that she has worked hard to rebuild the organization.Moskovitz is not representing Fleming in the suit filed in Palm Beach County last week, as he is not licensed in Florida. But he said that Straub "never spent a dime in the purchase of Miss America."
Straub's side has made the same claim about Fleming.
"All legal paperwork as well as wire transfers and cancelled checks clearly and obviously indicate that I am the sole owner of Miss America," Straub wrote in Monday's email to state directors. "Ms. Fleming cannot produce evidence of any payments, wire transfers or cancelled checks to purchase Miss America because none exist."
Straub's representatives had to find a work-around to even send the email, since he does not have access to the missamerica.org account.
That, Moskovitz says, is because the company belongs to Fleming.
"The bottom line is, Robin Fleming owns the Miss America Organization," Moskovitz insisted. "For the last year and a half, she's built that up from an entity that was on death's door to a matter of pride to everyone affiliated with it.
"Glenn Straub has done nothing but try to undermine it," he continued. "The last year and a half, while she's built this organization, he was nowhere to be found because he was never the owner."
Straub's side claims not only is he the sole owner, he has chosen a new president "who we will announce soon, has an extensive background in the pageant industry and a successful corporate career in the fashion and cosmetics industries," the statement claims.
