Ex-Playboy Model Accused Trump Donor Elliott Broidy of Sexual Abuse, Court Docs Show
LatestNewly unsealed court documents provide explicit details of several allegations by former Playboy playmate Shera Bechard of sexual and psychological abuse by former Republican National Committee deputy finance chairman Eliott Broidy, one of Donald Trump’s—and the GOP’s—biggest campaign fundraisers.
Among Bechard’s allegations are that Broidy forced Bechard to have an abortion during their four-year extramarital affair from 2013-2017; that Broidy refused to wear condoms and exposed Bechard to genital herpes; that Broidy was violent and obsessive, and tried to force Bechard to have liposuction; and that Broidy once threatened to “skull fuck” Bechard, among other allegations, according to court documents posted online by the Daily Beast.
The allegations are part of a lawsuit Bechard filed against the GOP fundraiser for allegedly violating a non-disclosure agreement the two had regarding their lengthy affair. Bechard alleges that Broidy failed to pay the entire $1.6 million outlined in the agreement—which was arranged by Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen—for the former Playboy model to keep the affair and the abortion a secret.
Broidy claims Bechard violated the terms of the agreement when her former attorney, Keith Davidson, shared details of the case with attorney Michael Avenatti, who represents porn actress Stormy Daniels in a separate lawsuit against Trump and Cohen over similar hush-money payments. Last month, Cohen pleaded guilty to multiple federal charges including campaign finance violations and tax and bank fraud. Trump is an unindicted co-conspirator in that case.
Broidy’s lawyers had sought to strike the damaging personal and medical details from the Bechard lawsuit and keep them under seal. But the petition from Broidy’s attorneys appears to contain the information the attorneys want to keep secret.
In a statement to HuffPost, Broidy said:
“This person tried to extract money from me by making up false, malicious and disgusting allegations. I have acknowledged making the mistake of having an affair, and I entered a confidential agreement to protect my family’s privacy. I honored my agreement until her lawyer breached it—and then, when I failed to pay her demands, she did what blackmailers do and went public with her lies. I will vigorously defend myself against these false and defamatory allegations, and I will seek all relief available to me under the settlement agreement against her and her attorneys.”
Bechard’s lawyers responded by saying, “Elliott Broidy continues to viciously attack our client, Shera Bechard, in the press — this time because a judge found his legal arguments for secrecy unavailing and because his own lawyers failed to do their jobs. We will not be intimidated as we work to vindicate our client’s rights.”
Avenatti tweeted, “I am very pleased that the court agreed with our position (and that of the media) this morning [Friday] and ordered the complaint in the Broidy matter unsealed. @PeterStris and Broidy should have never attempted to hide it from the public in the first place.”
Another interesting allegation contained in the document is that “Mr. Broidy’s attitude began to change as a result of ‘working for Donald Trump,’ and that ‘Mr. Broidy said that Mr. Trump was an idiot, who could not even pronounce the names of countries correctly.’”
Broidy also is under investigation by the Justice Department over whether he attempted to sell his influence in the Trump White House to Chinese and Malaysian officials, The Washington Post reported last month.