Claims against ex-tv star will stand
Montelongo of ‘Flip This House’ loses bid to get fraud suit from seminar attendees tossed
Onetime reality TV star Armando Montelongo Jr. has lost his bid to have fraud claims dismissed against him and his companies regarding real estate investment seminars they held.
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday declined to hear Montelongo’s appeal of a lower court ruling that let the claims stand. The state’s high court gave no reason for its decision.
Some 423 individuals who attended Montelongo’s seminars filed a lawsuit alleging that he sells “worthless, dangerous, and unlawful information” and “takes advantage of the students’ trust to loot their accounts.” Of the 37 plaintiffs who live in Texas, six reside in San Antonio.
The plaintiffs seek at least $15 million in damages.
A lawyer and a spokeswoman for Montelongo didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Monday, so it couldn’t be determined whether Montelongo plans to file a motion for rehearing with the Supreme Court.
Montelongo, 52, lives in San Antonio and is best known as the former star of the cable television series “Flip This House.” It aired on A&E from 2006 to 2008 and portrayed the stress and success of high-risk real estate investment, along with the drama of a family business.
He capitalized on his TV fame by promoting house-flipping seminars that have landed him in court.
The claims of fraud by former students are at the “core of the dispute” with Montelongo, and it would have been “a harder road ahead” for them had he prevailed in getting them dismissed, said John “Mickey” Johnson, a San Antonio lawyer representing the plaintiffs.
The legal battle began almost seven years ago in San Francisco federal court, with about 160 students alleging that Montelongo had bilked them out of their life savings, destroyed marriages and even drove one person to suicide.
The court dismissed the case after Montelongo argued it had Montelongo continues on A12