A Texas woman is suing Brad Pitt for $100,000, claiming he wooed her with talk of marriage and then ripped her off for big bucks on a charity debacle — but the actor’s lawyers say the woman was fooled by an online scammer.
Kelli Christina, a health care CEO from Plano, Texas, claims in court papers that she paid $40,000 for the actor to make five appearances at events that she arranged for his charity Make It Right Foundation, which constructs new homes for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
She even claimed that the pair developed such a close relationship that they had “discussions of marriage,” court docs seen by The Post said.
Pitt’s lawyer claim, however, that Christina was cruelly tricked by a cyber scammer who pretended to be the “Ocean’s Eleven” star, according to court papers.
The Oscar winner’s legal team filed a motion in a Texas court Wednesday saying that he had never had any dealings with Christina and filing to dismiss the case.
“Neither the Make It Right Entities nor Mr. Pitt entered into an agreement with Plaintiff,” the documents said.
“Rather, as [Christina] herself has acknowledged, it appears [Christina’s] communications about any agreement were apparently with one or more individuals unlawfully posing as — but not in any way affiliated with — defendants online,” the motion to dismiss states.
“By [Christina’s] own admissions, the communications she now alleges to have had with Mr. Pitt . . . were actually between Plaintiff and one or more individuals posing as, in Plaintiff’s words, ‘fake Brad Pitts’ and not in any way affiliated with the Make It Right Foundation.”
Christina’s original complaint, filed in the Texas Eastern District Court, stated: “In 2018, Plaintiff Kelli Christina was approached by Brad Pitt for the purposes of raising funds for the Make It Right Foundation, a charitable cause to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina.
“Kelli Christina was persuaded by Brad Pitt’s presentation of the allegedly meritorious cause. Plaintiff and Brad Pitt . . . entered into a business agreement with specific terms and conditions.”
Christina claimed that “Pitt” canceled at the very last minute for each event with the promise of “next time,” but says he still pocketed the $40,000 appearance fee.
According to the deal, Christina would organize events and market to the general public to raise money for Make It Right Foundation’s charitable causes.
“Brad Pitt’s appearance at the events was key to the events, donations to be made by attendees and was part of the agreement between Plaintiff and Defendants,” the suit states.
A rep for Pitt declined to comment.
“This is a sad case of someone who was the victim of an online celebrity internet scam that had nothing to do with the actual celebrity,” said a source familiar with the case. “Hopefully others can learn from this unfortunate situation.”
Christina responded to Pitt’s motion to dismiss by saying she will fight it.
“We have been litigating since March 2020 and I am pushing back on media,” she told The Post. “This lawsuit is important for the country so I will continue to fight Brad Pitt and Make it Right Foundation. I have 113 pages of organized discovery to support the charges and allegations. I wouldn’t expect this lawsuit to go away easily.”