Alyssa Milano has filed a $10 million lawsuit against her manager
The 44-year-old actress is suing her former business manager Kenneth Hellie and his company Hellie, Hoffer & Co - also known as HHC - for alleged negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, theft and fraud after they failed to take care of her finances, which has left her and her husband, David Bugliari in financial "ruin" with "millions of dollars of debt".
23 June 2017
It is claimed the accountant was trusted to pay Alyssa's bills, income tax and other bills, which he failed to do.
It has also been alleged that Hoffer, his firm and Jamie Williams were lackadaisical when it came to the star's insurance policies, forged her signature, and "shuffled" funds between numerous clients, which were disguised as "loans", that are believed to have totalled over $3 million over three years.
In the official court documents, which have been obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, it read: "This case arises from the gross negligence and malfeasance of entertainment business management firm, Hellie, Hoffer and Company, LLP ... that left its clients with millions of dollars of debt and their credit in ruins.
"In fact, Defendants failed to competently perform the most basic and crucial function of business manages, which is to manage, protect and safeguard the money and assets entrusted to them.
"Defendants engaged in a shell game with the client money entrusted to their care, by shuffling funds between client accounts in the guise of 'loans'.
"These manoeuvres were necessary to shore up the liquidity of HHC clients with cash flow problems created by the same mismanagement and lack of internal controls that afflicted Plaintiffs.
"Had Plaintiffs been provided with adequate information, the choice would have been clear - pay the tax man and delay the construction until funds were available."
It is believed Alyssa - who has five-year-old son Milo, and two-year-old daughter Elizabella with her partner - became aware of the financial mess after she received a notice of default on her house payments, followed by calls from collection companies, which encouraged her to fire Hoffer & Co in July 2016.
It has also been reported the former 'Melrose Place' star and her spouse were failed to be informed of other outgoing expenses that needed to be paid, such as code violations, which led the pair to fork out almost $500,000.
Hellie has yet to respond to the complaint.
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