FILM-FLAM!
Movie maker: Gal bilked me out of $1.2M
A REAL-LIFE femme fatale bilked a film producer out of more than $1 million in a lonely-hearts scam straight out of a B-movie noir, a new lawsuit alleges.
Nava Ziva Shapiro — who has at least five aliases — sank her claws into Dean Bivins, a New York-based producer of low-budget indies, by posing as a movie industry consultant and promising she could use her Wall Street contacts to fund his films.
Instead, she allegedly conned Bivins, 53, out of $1.2 million that went toward a Central Park South apartment, jewelry, designer clothing, expensive lingerie and spa treatments — even demanding he pay for daily massages “to relieve back pain as a result of her artificial breast implants,” court papers say.
After Shapiro — who met Bivins at a movie premiere last May and introduced herself as Katie Gates — learned Bivins had a movie production company, Groovy Boots Productions, she claimed she had worked in Wall Street but was now a film industry consultant.
She then lured him into hiring her, according to Bivins’ lawsuit, filed late Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Shapiro told him she “had recently fallen on some hard times,” but with Bivins’ help, she could get back on her feet. Shapiro tricked Bivins into buying her “designer clothing, jewelry and accessories, under the guise that she needed such items to ‘look the part’ of a film industry consultant.” She also manipulated him into thinking “she needed a luxurious Central Park South apartment, furnished with high-end furniture and kitchenware, in order to entertain potential investors,” Bivins says. Shapiro then allegedly started playing with his heart to get at even more of his money. “Bivins, who had not been in a relationship with a woman in over 10 years, was an easy target for Shapiro,” the suit points out. “Pretending to be in love with him, she caused him to break all ties with family, controlled all aspects of his life, tracked his whereabouts, and stole his credit card information.”
After Bivins got wise to her scheme, he tried to break up and boot her from the apartment last December. But Shapiro called the cops, claiming Bivins locked her out and “beat her, leaving her with visible injuries to her back” — leading to his arrest for misdemeanor assault.
Shapiro also filed an anonymous lawsuit against him — demanding $25 million, Bivins’ bombshell documents allege. Bivins is seeking at least $10 million in damages.
A lawyer representing Shapiro denied the producer’s claims.
“All of his allegations are false, extending even to such immaterial matters as her age, which is 36 and not 48 as he alleges,” the attorney wrote in an email to the Daily News. “Mr. Bivins apparently filed his suit to pressure Ms. Shapiro to drop the criminal charges against him.”