Sumner Redstone’s heiress granddaughter is sued, accused of defaming former assistant
A former assistant to billionaire heiress Keryn Redstone sued his former employer Wednesday, alleging that during a 10-day Adderall binge she defamed him by falsely accusing him of threatening her with a gun and stealing money from her.
Scott Michael Nathan filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Redstone, a granddaughter of the late media mogul Sumner Redstone and daughter of entrepreneur Brent Redstone, who was estranged from his father.
In the bombshell filing, Nathan claims that he began working for Keryn Redstone in 2021 as her personal assistant, but quickly realized she had “severe mental health and substance abuse problems and is so dysfunctional that she cannot manage her domestic affairs.”
An attorney for Redstone, Yury Galperin, told The Times that the lawsuit “appears to be completely meritless and ... we’re evaluating our options right now, but this will be litigated heavily if needed, and I’m confident it will be dismissed.”
Keryn Redstone is one of five grandchildren of Sumner Redstone, who founded Viacom CBS and died at age 97 in 2020. Sumner Redstone set up a generation-skipping trust that benefited his grandchildren, surpassing his two children, Shari and Brent Redstone.
Redstone’s lasting imprint will be accelerating media consolidation and hard-fought battles to build, then maintain his empire.
Keryn caused fissures in the family in 2016 when she asked to join Sumner’s former companion Manuela Herzer in a lawsuit claiming Sumner was no longer mentally competent. (Her request was denied.)
Nathan was happy to work for the heiress at her Brentwood home for a generous salary, but the job went south when his boss went into an Adderall-fueled episode in late September, the lawsuit says. Adderall is a prescription drug used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
In one bizarre incident on Sept. 30, Keryn Redstone ordered exotic birds but forgot to buy cages for them, the suit alleges.
When FedEx delivered the birds, Nathan said he had to then place orders for food, cages and other supplies. He also made dinner for Redstone and her boyfriend that night.
But early the next morning, around 4:20 a.m., Nathan woke up in his bedroom in Redstone’s house with police shining flashlights in his face, he said.
Fissures within the famously fractured Sumner Redstone family widened Tuesday when his granddaughter asked to join the contentious court battle over whether the media mogul is mentally competent.
“They had come to the property because Redstone, who was deranged from the Adderall induced lack of sleep, had called 9-1-1 and falsely reported that Nathan had stolen $300,000 from her, hacked her online accounts and threatened her life by pointing a gun at her head,” the lawsuit says.
Police questioned him about the alleged theft, adding that Redstone accused him of stealing her Mercedes-Benz, but he was not charged after officers believed him, the suit says. He filed for a restraining order that day, according to court documents, but it was not granted.
“She’s been terrorizing me,” he wrote, asking a judge to order Redstone to keep 100 yards from him. “She has not slept in 11 days.”
“She’s calling everyone I know and besmirching my name,” he added.
Nathan also claims in the lawsuit that he left the house and stopped working for Redstone after the incident, and that he filed a police report against her for “making a false 9-1-1 call.”
A Los Angeles County judge on Wednesday denied a request by the granddaughter of Sumner Redstone to join the contentious court battle over whether the media mogul is mentally competent.
“Redstone began a vendetta of threats, lies and intimidation against Nathan,” the suit says. “At various times in or about October-November, she falsely told several people that Nathan had committed various crimes of theft or violence against her, and that she intended to have Nathan killed or seriously injured.”
Redstone also allegedly paid a professional porn star to come to her home and have sex with her, the lawsuit claims. When the porn actor was with her, she told him that Nathan had stolen her money and threatened her with a gun, according to the suit.
Nathan also sued Redstone for a tweet in which she claimed that Nathan stole her cat.
Nathan’s lawyer, Alexander Rufus-Isaacs, said they unsuccessfully tried to settle with Redstone for months.
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